Secrets and Regrets
by SoulPieces
Summary: Amber's parents are trying desperately to hide the fact that their daughter once dated someone so low as a werehog, and to do so she is constantly switching schools. At Seven Jewels High, it seems that finally, her past no longer follows her...but she's in love with that werehog. She will do anything to stay with him. Even if it costs her her life.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: Sonic&Co belong to Sega. Spikes belongs to AdioXGen on DA. Everything else is mine.**

**Chapter One**

"Seven Jewels High". The young hedgehog looked up at the sign of the new school that she would be attending throughout her high school years as Mobians of all species wandered the campus around her. Finished just a few months before the new school year, she was excited to be among the first sophomores to attend this new school. The name was an obvious reference to the all-powerful Seven Chaos Emeralds, and most Mobians could have easily guessed the name before the school had opened, since most schools and academies seemed to want to be associated with famous places and objects.

Of course, no one paid any attention to the name anyways, as Amber Scott had always observed. At about five foot five, Amber was an average-sized hedgehog for her age; 15 going on 16. She was a light blonde color with forest green eyes. Always dressed in designer clothes, it was obvious she came from money. Today she was wearing a sleeveless, blue sequin top and flared black jeans with rhinestone studs. Her mid-back length hair was left down in her casual style, and her small quills were kept neat and out of sight, as they usually were. She adjusted her Coach purse on the opposite side of her pink and black book bag, and began walking up the steps to her new school. She had come early, like most people, to get to know people and make new friends. She took note of her peers. She would have to quickly figure out who was going to be the most popular, and then try to fit herself in amongst them. She sighed. Easier said than done. At least she could start off completely fresh at this new school. She was very much so used to starting over at different schools, since her parents constantly moved her around, for reasons of their own. She always told everyone it was because they were looking for a school that would suit her academic needs. But usually, her parents would move her to a different school again before people were able to learn the real truth. She was always starting over at a new school. Sometimes, Amber had a hard time with learning who was hot and who was not, and other times it was very obvious.

However, this time she was quick to locate the popular group of girls. It was almost like an employment agency; you approached, had an "interview", and then they determined who got to join them and who didn't. At some schools, she knew from experience, the popular girls were completely exclusive, and therefore _extremely_ hard to impress.

She made her way over to the girls. _Good,_ she thought. _They seem to be nice. This shouldn't be too bad._ She smiled her usual warm smile and said "Hey there, I'm Amber! Nice to meet you all!" She shook everyone's hand, making sure to make eye contact and to remember names as she'd always practiced. She'd figured out it was usually the best way to start off with a new group.

"Hey, I'm Blaze Redd," a tall, lavender cat greeted her warmly, even though it appeared as though she was trying to mentally dissect Amber, trying to learn all her secrets at once. Her hair was pulled atop her head in a pony tail, and Amber could see that she had darker purple highlights. She wore a deep purple robe lined with magenta at the bottom. She also wore gloves with fur cuffs and beautiful red heels. _Ah yes, obviously going to be the 'leader' of this little clique._ She could tell just by the look in this cat's bright yellow eyes that she was the leader type.

"Amy Rose. Nice to meet you, too," a pink hedgehog with dark green eyes who was shorter than Amber said enthusiastically. She had short hair with a few bangs and wore a red head band. Her short dress was also red, lined with white at the bottom, and her knee-high boots matched the rest of her outfit color scheme. She shook Amber's hand with both of hers, smiling a cute smile. _The cute one of the group, I can tell. Child-like and well loved._ She would probably become her best friend.

"I'm Rouge Prada, expert on all things jewelry and fashion," a white bat with aqua blue eyes half-heartedly shook her hand. She spoke with the accent of a fashion model more than one of a regular teenager. _I'm a bit shocked that this one hangs with them,_ Amber thought as she studied the girl. She was wearing very suggestive clothing that Amber honestly couldn't believe was allowed at the school. She wore a skin-tight suit that lacked sleeves and probably ended somewhere around her knees; although Amber wasn't for sure, since her white knee-high boots covered them up. Covering her rather out-there bust was a pink heart-shaped segment of her suit that seemed to be made of a more shiny material. Her long white gloves were rolled so that they stopped at her elbows, and they also had the same color pink on the edge. Her boots had pink cuffs and pink hearts and the tips. She also wore a TON of makeup and blue eye-shadow. _Then again, she seems pretty welcome. It must be her fashion sense, or maybe she's softer when you get to know her. I've known people like this._

Amber smiled again as they began to ask her questions about her lifestyle and her past thus far, and she hoped that they would like her. She found them all to be quite interesting and diverse in personalities, and in the back of her mind she was already beginning to imagine what it would be like to hang with them after school.

**X-X-X**

Shadow Robotnik glanced around, looking for the boys he normally hung out with: Sonic, Tails and Knuckles. Sonic was _not_ his favorite person, but he didn't mind the other two. They were okay. At least they weren't as big-headed as Sonic, his rival.

Shadow was a six foot tall black hedgehog with red streaks in his quills to match his dark personality and a little bit of white chest-fur. Today, he wore his favorite black leather jacket with a regular white t-shirt underneath and dark jeans. His white gloves had black cuffs and thick gold rings around them. Despite his looks, however, he was very popular among his old crowd. Most of them would be going to this new school, so he felt pretty confident about where his social status would be these next few years. Not to mention that running track would help boost his popularity. Sports was a _very_ important aspect for every male, and in this city, track was almost as important as football.

Something caught his eye as he continued scanning for his friends. A petite, blonde hedgehog was making her way over to Blaze's group. _Uh-oh, _he thought to himself. _This won't be good._ He had seen the way that the Group would treat newcomers, and it was never pretty, unless the newcomer knew what she was doing. _Dang shame, she's pretty cute. But she'll be knocked down to 'loser' status very quickly, more than likely. Nothing that I would want to deal with. _He decided to stand back and watch the show.

As it always did, the Group was at first very reserved (other than Amy Rose, of course) and slightly short in their greetings as they studied the hedgehog. They seemed to be mentally ripping her inside out, learning the basics of the new girl. He could also observe her looking back at them with the same intensity, sizing them up and seemingly planning her next move. Then, he could tell by the way they formed a semi circle around her, they began the questioning. Although he couldn't see the new girl's face, because her back was now turned to him, he could tell that what she was saying was at least of some interest. Blaze's expression turned from one of scrutiny to one of pure curiosity as she continued asking most of the questions. The other two girls followed suit, and to Shadow's disbelief, Blaze smiled and gave the new girl a pat on the back, and he could see a genuine welcoming look cross the popular cat's face. _This girl knows how to play her cards. She's been through this before, she must be very practiced,_ he thought to himself. _Yes. She definitely has diplomacy, and her looks show that her parents aren't of the middle class. I wonder who her family is?_

"Hey, Shadz! Long time, no see!" Shadow heard someone shout behind him, pulling his attention from the scene taking place across campus. He turned to see his group walking up to him, Sonic waving enthusiastically. _Ugh._

"Hey," he replied coolly. "Aren't we lucky, to have this huge building turned into a high school. And here we thought it would be something worth-while," he said somewhat disappointedly, gesturing with an over-the-shoulder wave at the school. All summer they had tried to guess what the large building would become. No one had ever even considered it would become the new high school.

"I know, right? Why so big?" Tails asked. "It's just a dumb school."

Miles "Tails" Prower was the smallest of their group, a two-tailed yellow fox with brown eyes at a height of five feet, eight inches. He was accepted into their group only because Sonic had, for some reason, taken a real shine to him. He wasn't really athletic, except for in tennis. He wore a light blue shirt with black basketball shorts, obviously trying to capture the "jock" look to fit in with Sonic. But everyone knew he was really just a nerd, and if it weren't for the big-shot himself, Tails would not be hanging out with them all the time.

Sonic the Hedgehog was a typical know-it-all, big-shot jock, five foot ten, and pretty much was the leader of their group. The blue hedgehog had been the number one runner on the track team at their school last year, and he really let it all go to his head. Amy Rose, also in their grade, really had a thing for him, which only seemed to boost his ego. This year, Shadow promised himself he'd beat Sonic at least once in a race.

Sonic was wearing his favorite outfit today, a blue jacket, white t-shirt, and ripped blue jeans and his favorite red tennis shoes. On each arm he wore plain white gloves, the cuffs rolled up a few times so that they stayed around his wrist.

"Anyways, anyone else seeing what I'm seeing?" Sonic asked. Shadow turned to see what Sonic was looking at, and saw him staring at the blonde hedgehog he'd seen earlier. "Hel-LO, lil' cutie!" Sonic whistled.

"Oh, her? Yeah I saw her earlier. Seems the Group has taken a real shine to her, which is very odd, considering how they normally are," Shadow stated, trying not to let his jealousy show. Of course Sonic would want the pretty new girl. And of course, she'd probably wind up liking him back, as was always expected of any girl around Sonic. He was the big shot. Shadow was always the loner, the rebel of the group. Well, not like he wanted a girlfriend anyways. He just didn't have any interest in growing close to anyone. He never had, ever since his sister, Maria, died of an incurable disease. It made him back off from others for a long time, but recently he started making friends again. But he was far from ready to try to grow so close to another person again.

"I think I will go change the fact that I don't even know her name," Sonic started walking over towards the Group.

"Not if I do first!" Knuckles challenged.

Knuckles Terra was a tall red echidna with dark brown eyes and was always fighting with Sonic. He had tons of dread locks and sometimes put beads in them, as was common with most echidnas. He often wore a sports outfit of one kind or another, and wore shoes similar to Sonic's, except his were green. He wore gloves with spikes on the knuckles, which gave him his name. He was the tallest of the group at six foot two.

Knuckles and Sonic dashed off to talk to the Group, specifically with the new girl. Tails followed at a not-so-eager pace, since usually he was pretty shy around new people, especially girls. Not to mention she'd probably just make fun of his two tails, since that wasn't exactly the most normal thing ever.

_I really don't care to ever date her, or even become a good friend. But I guess it wouldn't hurt to get to know her just a bit, since the other numskulls are going to do so anyways._ Shadow followed the rest of them at his leisurely pace.

**X-X-X**

"Mm….incoming boys," Rouge warned the Group softly as an ocean-blue hedgehog and a bright red echidna ran towards them, calling out a greeting. The girls quickly snapped into a practiced nonchalant state, as though it was every day that guys were quickly dashing forwards to greet them. Everyone but Amber already knew the boys, anyways, from middle school. She smiled sweetly but shyly as the two boys hurriedly introduced themselves to her after a quick hello to the other three girls.

"I'm Knuckles Terra," the red echidna spoke up first with an air of pride as he puffed out his chest.

"And I'm Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog!" The blue hedgehog slightly shoved Knuckles out of his way, pointing to himself with an air of cockiness. Knuckles wasn't going to take the shove lightly, however, and he pushed Sonic back. Pretty soon, a shoving fight broke out between the two boys, each shove rougher than the last, until Knuckles threw the first punch.

"Um…guys?" Amber reached out as though to stop them from fighting, but Blaze put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"Don't, they do this all the time. It's like their job to fight. Don't worry, it'll end pretty soon," she reassured the new hedgehog.

A yellow fox approached them shortly afterwards. Amber smiled and introduced herself and held out her hand to shake.

"I'm Miles Prower, but everyone calls me Tails," the young kitsune responded, shaking her hand briefly. "I guess you can kind of see why," he twirled his namesakes in example, lifting himself off the ground a few feet.

"Oh wow, that's so cool!"

Tails blushed and spoke a bit louder. "Really? You don't think I'm weird?"

"Well of course not! That's so cool. You can freaking fly!" She responded excitedly.

"Hey, you two, you're not getting anywhere by fighting ten feet away from the girl who's attention you planned to get," a fourth, deeper voice spoke behind Tails. Sonic and Knuckles immediately quit their fighting and stood by the group, Amy now hanging off Sonic's arm. They both held indignant looks; Sonic's also contained a bit of annoyance at a certain pink growth on his arm. Amber glanced past them to see a dark hedgehog approach the group at a laid-back pace. He stopped right in front of her, silently looking down at her with an intense look, as though he were studying her.

Irritated by the silence and a bit intimidated by the dark hedgehog, Amber spoke up first. "Can I help you?" She asked in an impatient voice, disguising any fear she had of him.

"No," he said simply, not offering anything else. This irritated Amber further.

"Who are you?" She asked slightly aggressively.

"Shadow Robotnik," he replied in a gruff tone, turning his attention away from her and to the rest of the Group. "What time is it? We ought to be able to go inside soon."

Amber flicked her ears in annoyance at his unfriendly attitude. "You know, most people actually take an interest in new people when they get a chance to talk to them," she said, putting her hands on her hips.

He looked at her coldly. "I already know what I need to know. I heard that your name was Amber Scott. You're friends with all my friends. You've also got what it takes to be accepted by the Group. What else would I want to know?"

With Amber now silenced, Shadow turned back to everyone else. "Seriously, what time is it?"

Blaze checked her cell phone. "It's 8:02, so the school doors should be open by now. Let's go, girls," she motioned her group to follow. Amy reluctantly let go of Sonic and sang a good bye to him as Rouge winked in goodbye and both girls followed after Blaze. With one last resentful look at the dark hedgehog, Amber fell in step beside the other two girls. The boys opted to stay outside for a little bit longer to "scope out the hotties," as Sonic so delicately put it.

"Is he always like that?" She asked Rouge once they were out of earshot of the boys.

"Don't be bothered, hun. His sister, Maria, died a few years back, and since then he's been colder than normal. His personality was always a bit reserved, but now he's just downright closed to new people. It makes me wonder what actually goes on inside that head of his. I don't believe for one minute that he isn't at least a little bit curious about others," she pulled out a powder compact and applied a bit more color to her cheeks, analyzing herself closely in the mirror.

"Personally, I think he's just a big meanie! It's such a shame, because he's sorta cute too. But my heart will always belong to Sonic!" Amy added dreamily. Amber held back a laugh at her love struck new friend. She had seen the look in Sonic's eyes that said it all. He _wanted_ to like Amy, but she was so clingy, and he seemed to be the type to not want to be tied down. _Maybe, after we grow closer, she'll let me help her out with that relationship._ She thought they could make a pretty adorable couple, if Amy would just back off a bit.

"I think that underneath that hard shell, there's a true gentlemen. Someone's just got to break through the walls," Blaze added her own input. "However, it would take a very long time. He was extremely close to his sister. No one will be able to reach that hedgehog's heart until he finally gets completely over her death. And since he's only recently started making friends again, I don't think he'll ever fall in love before the end of high school. Such a shame, since high school is supposed to be the best time to date, and a good time to gain some experience."

Amber listened carefully to the cat. For a sophomore, she seemed wiser than her years. "Well, I hope that whatever girl is able to get past those walls is able to put up with the strong, silent type. Because I personally think he's like that, even without a bad past!" Amber replied. "Although, that is pretty sad about his sister. What happened?"

"Maria Robotnik had a fatal disease. Her grandfather was looking for a cure, but it was too late. She died in her sleep, peacefully. But her life was rough. She was such a pretty little hedgehog, too. Such a shame, she could have been a fashion model!" Rouge answered, having finished freshening up her already-perfect makeup. "Short, blonde hair that fell around her shoulders, beautiful blue eyes to match. She was tall for her age, and she loved the color blue. She wore a blue headband, blue dress, and blue shoes, normally. I never got to know her very well, but I think she was a very likeable person, actually."

Amber nodded, not really sure what else to say. She instead dug around in her purse for the paper that contained her locker and schedule information. "Locker 3199. Any of you girls have a locker nearby?"

"I have locker number 3173. That's at least down the same hallway," Blaze said, glancing at her paper.

"Locker number 3190 for me!" Amy cheered.

"Hm, locker number 3139…looks like I'm the farthest," Rouge replied. "I think these were sorted by last names."

"Do you think Sonic will have a locker near mine? That'd be so great! We'd be able to see each other every morning!" Amy hugged her paper, off daydreaming again. Amber laughed.

"Well, his last name is Hedgehog, isn't it? I think he'll be down one of the other hallways. But that's okay, you guys will probably have classes together," she patted Amy's shoulder.

"You think so? Ooh, maybe we'll have biology together! Then we can pair up for all the labs! And we can sit next to each other and write love notes to each other and hold hands and…"

"Hey, hey, hey, don't you think you're getting just a bit ahead of yourself?" Blaze stopped the pink hedgehog from continuing her little fantasy. "Just take things one day at a time. Remember, you don't want to smother him!"

"Oh yeah, right! So I'll just hope that we can at least write love notes all during class to each other!" Amy twirled around happily, still hugging her paper.

_What was Shadow's last name? Oh yeah, Robotnik. Which means he'll be somewhat close by, but he'll be a bit farther away than Amy. _ Amber thought as they all walked towards their respective lockers. _Great…I have to face that cold stare every day._ She shuddered as she approached her locker. _I can honestly say that I am not looking forward to that._

"Hey, you dropped this," she heard an already-familiar voice behind her. _Speak of the devil…_ she turned around to face him.

He was holding out a key ring to her, with 3 sets of keys and a glittery keychain that read "Amber~".

"Oh. Thanks," she said, taking the keys gently from him. She turned back and began unloading the contents of her backpack into her locker. She could tell he was still standing behind her, and as she hung up the locker mirror she could see him continuing to look at her with that same studying look. Already tired of his cold personality, she turned to look at him and huffed, "What do you want?"

His facial expression didn't change, and he remained silent for a bit longer. Finally, he spoke quietly, "You're the same color as my sister." Suddenly he turned and walked off quietly.

"Hey, wait," she called after him. He stopped and glanced over his shoulder before finally sighing and walking back to her. He again stood close to her and looked down on her. Amber took a step back, slightly thrown off by his sudden stop not 6 inches in front of her.

"What?" It was more a statement than a question.

"I heard what happened to your sister. And I'm very sorry. I know it's got to be hard. But hey, don't take it out on everyone else around you. Friends are there for comfort, not to take out anger or pain on. They're here to help you through it. And it's always good to make new friends because you never know the different ways they can help. I feel like maybe I could help you feel better about the whole thing, if you'd give me a chance to get to know you. But don't treat me like this. Our lockers are going to be somewhat close by and I don't want to face the same cold look every morning just because you're afraid to make a new friend who has the same fur color as your sister. I understand why you would treat me like this, but it doesn't make me like it any more that I already do," Amber told him with a clear voice, despite the fact that inside, she was feeling a bit scared of him again. He looked like the kind of guy who wouldn't mind hurting a person or two just because he was somewhat pissed off. Not to mention he was still standing close to her, that searching look in his eyes. She felt like he was trying to make her vulnerable and expose her secrets.

He continued looking at her for a bit, his expression still unchanged. Finally, he closed his eyes and sighed audibly. "Look. I am not trying to be rude. Right now I'm trying to figure you out because you look like the kind to hold a secret or two. Usually I can read people like a book, but you seem like you're hiding something. It interests me, and at the same time it makes me slightly weary of you. I don't like unpredictable people."

"Well, I hate to disappoint you, but I am not hiding anything."

"You move schools a lot, don't you?" He asked, reopening his eyes and looking at her again with the same look as before.

"Well, yes, but how did you…"

"I can tell by the way that you handled the Group's first meeting. You were easily able to get them to accept you. Usually they don't want anyone new. So it's obvious you're practiced. Do you like moving schools so much?"

Amber stood shocked for a little bit before finally replying, "Well…I know that my parents do it because they want the best for me…"

"That's not what I asked," Shadow interrupted her. "Don't answer, I already know. You hate it, you hate being moved around so much because it forces you to start over all the time. That's what you're hiding: the rage at your parents. You secretly hate them when they tell you that you'll be going to a new school."

"I don't hate my parents!" She protested, but he silenced her by holding up his hand.

"You do whenever they force you to start all over again. Hm…you had to let go of someone very important, didn't you?" He asked, his crimson eyes continuing to study her.

Feeling like an open book, Amber decided she might as well spill, since he'd figure it out anyways. She turned back to her locker and continued sorting through her things for a little while before finally answering.

"Yes. I do hate my parents sometimes. But it's not because they force me to start over all the time. Actually, that's just collateral damage from the real reason why they move me around all the time. The real reason is…" she trailed off, uncertain whether to tell the black and red hedgehog everything or not.

"They're hiding you from someone," he finished her thoughts in a nutshell.

She sighed. "It's not someone that I want to hide from though. They're trying to keep me away from my first boyfriend. Spikes the Werehog."

**X-X-X**

**SoulPieces here, with yet another Sonic fanfiction :) I have yet to understand why so many people write "Sonic High School" fics, so I decided I'd try it for myself and see what the big deal is. I'm trying to make mine **_**not**_** cliché, but I guess we'll see how successful I am with that in time.**

**Drop a review, and stand by for the next chapter that will be up soon. Reviews are asked for in bulk for this story, mainly because I don't know how well I'm doing when compared to similar fics, and honestly I'm hoping to put a different spin on this story. I'm also going to try to use more humor, as I've noticed I lack in my other two fanfictions, and I'm going to try to keep everybody in character. So if anyone seems OOC, point it out to me!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Sonic and Co. belong to Sega. Spikes belongs to AdioXGen on DA. Everything else is mine.**

**Chapter Two**

"He's a tall guy, as is typical of werehogs," Amber continued as she and Shadow walked to their first class, Language Arts, together. They had three classes together: Language Arts, which was first hour; Economics, which was fourth hour (and meant that they also had lunch together); and Biology, which was fifth hour. Shadow insisted she continue to tell her story as they walked to their next class. He wasn't much for talking himself, but he listened pretty well to others. "He's a golden yellow color, and his spikes pointed straight up," she motioned behind her head with her hands. "His spike tips and his chest fur were both white, and he always wore red and black shoes and blue jeans. He didn't have to wear a shirt because, well, he's a werehog! Shirts don't actually fit them, ya know? Not that I'm complaining…" she murmured under her breath. Shadow let out a short chuckle but otherwise stayed silent as she continued her story.

"Anyways, my parents didn't like him at all. They told me he was trouble and that I shouldn't want to even hang out with the likes of a werehog. They thought he was too violent. If only they knew…" she trailed off as she sat down in the seat beside Shadow, silent for a little bit as she studied their first class. The only other person in her class that she knew was Blaze, who sat on the other side of her. Amber really didn't want everyone to know her past, even though she was telling a complete stranger about it, but she figured that with Shadow he didn't have much of a choice. It was like he was reading her mind anyways. She cast him a weary glance, darted her eyes towards Blaze, and looked back at him to see his reaction.

"I understand," he nodded. "Tell me later." Amber turned around to chat with Blaze a little bit, who thankfully hadn't heard anything she'd said earlier. _I don't want my story to get out. It's none of anyone's business, and I'm just telling Shadow because he looks like the type who could figure it all out anyways._ She thought to herself. _And he doesn't look like the type to tell a secret. But I could be wrong…_

The piercing bell cut through her and Blaze's conversation, and the teacher, a short orange tabby cat who looked like she could lose 10 or 20 pounds took a stand at the front of the room. She wore an indigo suit similar to something Amber would assume you'd wear to an interview and small glasses that sat right on the end of her nose. Her long tail had a white tip to it, and her large paws were almost a solid orange. "Now, let's start off with roll call…" she promptly began.

As she began to read off names, Amber's eyes shifted just slightly to the left so that Shadow could be clearly seen in her peripheral vision. The dark hedgehog had told her that she was confusing, but he should look in the mirror. Amber didn't quite understand the unusual interest he'd taken in her, although he claimed it was just because he could tell she was hiding something, although what it was had been a mystery to him. He had seemed genuinely intrigued by her past with Spikes, another thing she couldn't quite comprehend. Why would anyone care about that, anyways? Just another forbidden love…

_Maybe he's one of those guys who secretly likes all those romance novels and such,_ she guessed, continuing to watch him as he seemed close to dozing off as class began. _Well…maybe not…_ she added as she relooked over his wardrobe. He might be somewhat of a rebel, but he was definitely a jock at the same time, and she had yet to meet a jock who actually cared much for romance novels, despite all the previous schools she'd been at.

Amber finally surrendered her attention to the teacher as she began to explain class rules and what to expect from the class during the year. With a sigh, she pulled out a small notebook and opened up to the first page and titled it "Language Arts R/E". She began to take short notes on the upcoming assignments they could expect to see as the teacher went into detail about a particular reading assessment that would count as their 9-weeks test. _Are you kidding me? It's the first day, and already we're talking about quarter finals…_

Something light hit her ear tip, and she heard paper hit the floor next to her chair. She flattened her ears in annoyance and started to glance behind herself when she noticed Shadow quickly lay his head down and fake-sleep. She flicked her ears and figured it wasn't worth the effort, but that crumpled up piece of paper was really tempting her to throw it back.

Ignoring her more rebellious side, Amber continued writing her notes, and she caught movement out of the corner of her eye as Shadow picked the paper back up and laid his head back down before she could even turn her head. As the teacher turned around to write something on the board, she reached over and smacked his arm. He lifted his head looking as though she'd just woken him up and he looked none to happy about it.

"What?" He whispered.

"You throw that again and I'll kill you," she whispered back. He chuckled and laid his head back down, murmuring something along the lines of "yeah right."

Amber rolled her eyes and sat back in her chair, now finished writing down the upcoming major assignments and projects. She figured she could work a little bit at a time on the weekends on each project and have them done by the time they were due…

_Smack._

This time the paper hit the side of her head, and again her ears went flat. She bent down the pick up the piece of paper and noticed the words "Read Me" on it, written in typical guy handwriting. She looked at Shadow with a face that said "Are you kidding me?" He chuckled again and sat his chin on the palm of his hand, pretending to be engrossed in what the teacher was droning on about. With an irritated huff, she silently opened up the paper.

_I'm bored and still curious about you and Spikes. Tell me more and just throw this back. And you couldn't kill me if you tried._

Amber rolled her eyes and folded the paper neatly, sliding it into the middle of her notebook. She wasn't usually the type to do anything that could even risk her getting into trouble, especially because her parents were already constantly on her case about even the little things, thinking that dating the rebellious werehog had only caused her to become a rebel herself.

"Okay, so enough with all these rules, because I'm certain that you guys really don't care and will probably break half of them by the end of this class hour," the teacher finally wrapped up her "do's and don'ts" lecture. She pulled out a stack of papers and handed them to Shadow. "Shadow will be passing out these papers that are to go to your parents tonight, and have them back by Friday, signed and filled out. It explains what I expect of you students and how late papers will be taken, and all that other stuff that you all will hear about at least 3 more times today." She walked back to the front of the room and picked up another stack of papers. "And this is a packet I would like for you all to fill out yourselves. It's an 'About Me' packet. I just want to get to know my students a little bit better, and I figured this is the best way to do so," she handed the packets to a black hawk sitting at the front of the room. Her deadpan voice told us that she really didn't care about knowing anything about the students, but was just giving them busy work to do until the end of the class period.

As Shadow handed Amber her paper, he whispered, "Seriously, tell me!"

"You can hear about it later. Why are you so interested anyways?" She whispered back. He shrugged and kept walking down the aisle, carelessly tossing the papers to everyone.

As the black hawk finished up handing out the papers, the teacher added one more thing before she sat down at her computer. "I would like for the Student Information papers to be back by tomorrow, although having them turned in today would be nice."

_Yep, I knew it. _ Amber thought. The classroom was filled with hushed whispers amongst students as they tossed the papers aside, obviously caring just as much as the teacher about the unnecessary work. As she put her papers into her blue and black zip binder, she felt a pencil hit her shoulder.

"Will you cut it out?" She whispered loudly as she turned around to face Shadow once more.

"Will you tell me more?" He asked.

Amber rolled her eyes and pulled out the folded piece of paper. As she picked up her pen, she debated where to start.

_They think he's rebellious and the type who would be in a gang. They're always afraid now that a pack of werehogs might try to attack us because the last time we talked they forced me to tell him some really mean things. Afterwards I was able to get word to him that I hoped he didn't hate me and that my parents made me tell him all that stuff, and I asked him please don't hold any grudges or anything. He kinda understood that I was really asking him not to get pissed off enough to actually do anything violent, and he told me he wasn't even thinking about anything like that. He's just not a violent guy. He said that he kinda figured they were making me say that stuff anyways, and that he was sorry that all he did was cause a rift between me and my parents. I told him that it was okay, that it would all die down eventually, and maybe we could try again when we were older, but…_

She handed the note to Shadow, who read it quickly, then turned to look at her. His face acquired that studious look again as he told her to not look away. He looked at her for a while before finally scribbling down his reply.

_But that's not what he wanted, is it? He didn't want to stop the relationship. I can tell you why without even meeting him, because his thoughts would be the same as any guy. He didn't want to risk you falling for someone else. He's somewhat possessive, isn't he?_

_Well I wouldn't say possessive— _The end of class bell stopped Amber from writing anymore. As she gathered up her things, Shadow grabbed the note from her desk and crumpled it back up into a ball, tossing it neatly into the trash can. "So what did he say?"

"He handed me…a ring…he said he'd been saving up for a car, but he said that having me forever was more important than having a car at 16, and he said he could keep saving…"

"Do you ever wear it?" Shadow asked as they paused in the hall, ready to go their separate ways to class.

"Sometimes, yes. I obviously don't wear it around my parents, and even when I'm not around them, sometimes I don't wear it. It just depends…there are times when I think there's nothing else I'd rather have, and then there are other times when I stop myself and ask…do I really want to do that to my parents? I mean, yes they are close-minded and won't listen to any reasoning but…I still love them…" She dug into her pocket and pulled out a ring with a large rose diamond in the middle that was actually cut like a rose. The "vines" that came off of either side of the rose were encrusted with small clear diamonds, which cast off an array of rainbow shards of light. "He said he actually had to go to another city to find it for me. He told me that if he was going to get me a ring, then it was going to be the best anyone could find; one that would make anyone jealous…"

Shadow took the ring and twirled it around in his hand. "Wow, he must honestly be serious…" he mumbled as he studied the ring. "And yes, it would make any girl jealous. I have to be honest, I don't know many guys who would do that at 15…" he handed it back to Amber, and she quickly shoved it back into her pocket. "But, like I said, he sounds somewhat possessive."

"He's not possessive, he just wants to make sure I know how he feels—"

"Amber, that's possessive," Shadow cut her off. "He's given you a ring and basically told you he wants to marry you, and you're only 15. That's a little early, isn't it? I think that if he had it his way, you two would already have run off somewhere and eloped." Amber turned around, starting off to her next class. She felt a hand tug at her arm. "I'm telling you, you might be more of a prize than anything else to him. He's a werehog, and it sounds to me like his family isn't from too high of a class, while you're quite high up there, obviously. He had you and he doesn't want to let go, because to all his buddies who are in the same boat as him, he's got to be the luckiest guy on the face of Mobius to get someone like you. You're like a trophy Amber, and you need to watch it. You need to make sure he really loves you before you go any deeper into this."

As Amber looked defiantly into his red eyes, she felt her resolve crumbling away. His words hit home, and she realized that he might be right. Which meant her parents were right too, and she really didn't want to admit that…

"Why do you care, anyways?" She asked colder than she meant to, and he dropped her arm. She turned around and stormed off towards her next class, leaving Shadow to look after her with fire in his eyes, exasperated that she was blinded by her own obsession to see that everything may not be what it seemed. Now he understood how her parents must have felt.

_And she's supposed to be really smart, too. That's such a waste._

**X-X-X**

Health for Amber went about the same as Language did, as far as classwork went. She didn't really bother writing anything down for health because she was still steaming from Shadow's audacity to tell her she was nothing but a trophy to a guy who he'd never even met.

_No one understands us…_ she mentally told Spikes, wishing for the thousandth time that he could actually talk telepathically. It sure would help on those lonely nights she spent cuddling with her fake fur blanket, wishing it was him instead. She often talked to him mentally, when she missed him the most.

The ring in her pocket might as well been burning a hole in her leg. She wanted so badly to take it out and wear it. She wanted everyone in that school to look at it and wonder who was wealthy enough to give her that ring. She glanced at what she was wearing. _Well, I guess it wouldn't look too out of place…except for the fact that the diamonds are real…_

She finally decided, against her better judgment, to slip in on her ring finger. She kept her hands in her lap so as not to draw attention to it, but it felt like a 10-pound weight on her finger with a flashing sign above it that said, "Look at the girl who's wearing it, she's caught in a forbidden romance! Let's spread the secret around so she can be forced to move schools again so that her parents feel like they're saving face!" She put her other hand over the ring, wishing that it wasn't so flashy. It was so sweet that he wanted everyone to notice and be jealous, but it was also somewhat of a hassle…

Finally sick of the way that wearing the ring was beginning to make her feel, she slid it off her finger again. _No, I can't wear this at school…_ silently it slipped back into her pocket, and she felt herself fall into memories of the past year or so, all the memories that she had the pertained to her relationship with Spikes. From rivals to friends to lovers, was how she always wrapped up their relationship from start to present. They always used to laugh about how they constantly fought in 6th grade, which usually got one or both of them moved to a different seat, which would start another fight about who's fault it was that they got moved. In 7th grade he sometimes picked on her, but they grew closer and became best friends. He'd often call her and they'd talk about different video games, and how Amber sucked at every single one of them but never gave up trying anyways.

She had to keep herself from laughing aloud as she remembered one particular phone conversation where he'd said he was bored out of his mind but it was too late to go anywhere, and Amber had said she was sorry.

"_It's not like you have to apologize, there's nothing you can really do about it."_

"_Well, I'm still sorry!"_

"_Don't apologize!"_

"_Okay, I'm sorry…"_

"_Stop it!"_

"_I'm sor—I mean…gah! I don't know what else to say!"_

At that point Amber couldn't do anything but laugh, and as his laugh joined in with hers, she had felt something change between them. She'd known since their first meeting that he had a thing for her, but she'd never felt the same, until that night. She realized that all the phone conversations, all the teasing and the rivalry between them, had caused them to grow undeniably closer. She realized that she'd begun to see him as more than just a werehog, someone from the wrong side of the tracks. She could see he was different. He actually wanted to amount to something when he grew up. He was a smart boy, but he never really worked at anything, until she began to coach him. Up until then, he'd had no motivation whatsoever to work in school, claiming he would just worry about it in college. But with enough of her talking, he'd started actually doing his work in school once they entered the 8th grade, and found it to be more fulfilling then skipping class and ignoring deadlines for assignments. He'd begun to get really eager to finish long-term assignments, and every time he turned them in, he'd come running up to her to tell her how great he thought he'd done and how interesting it actually turned out to be.

During this time, Amber had begun to debate whether or not she should reveal her feelings to him. Every time she saw his smile and the way his eyes lit up when he talked to her, she felt herself inch a bit closer to admitting her feelings for him. And finally, during Thanksgiving break of their 8th grade year, she admitted that she'd liked him for quite some time, and after some debating about whether or not her parents would really approve of it, she finally convinced him that they would understand.

Oh, how dead wrong she had been.

So far, one of her friends got her caught, then one of her teachers let something slip not even knowing what it could do to her, and the most previous act that had doomed her and Spikes' relationship had been the cell phone bill. Her father had noticed that she'd been talking to a particular "Private" number for 51+ hours that previous month. Both her parents knew immediately who it was, and switched her schools. Since then, Spikes had followed her to every school, and they tried to hide it from her parents. They always found out though, since they had certain "connections", and once they found out they'd move her to a completely new school.

At the end of the previous school year, Amber had finally told Spikes that he couldn't keep doing this.

"_Every time you follow me, my parents find out and move me schools _again_. It's not that I don't love you or don't want to be with you, Spikes, it's just that I can't keep starting over like this! Don't you realize that once they run out of public schools to ship me to, they'll start looking at private all-girls academies? I can't do that!"_

"_Amber, I didn't really think about it that way. I'm so sorry that all I do is hurt you…"_

"_Please, PLEASE don't start that again." She rested her hands on his shoulders. "I love you Spikes. You aren't hurting me. You just want to be with me, and I want the same. But don't you see? We can't hide this from them. There's no way. We'll just have to make it 3 more years, and then I'll be allowed to move out and do whatever the heck I want."_

"…_Will you hold out for me until then?" Spikes pulled out a small box from his pocket. "I'm serious Amber. I want you forever. Will you marry me one day?"_

Amber had no words to respond with once he opened the small ring box. At the moment, Amber could only say "yes" repeatedly and shower him with hugs and kisses. But a few days later…she wasn't so sure anymore.

_I took the ring. I made a promise. I'm not just some trophy to Spikes! If I was, he wouldn't have gotten such a beautiful and expensive ring._ At that moment, Amber decided that Shadow and her parents were just blind. Or maybe even jealous of the love she and Spikes shared.

The bell cut her off from her memories, and before she picked up her things, she checked her schedule. P.E. next. _Oh what fun…_she thought miserably. She picked up her things and headed for the gym, but not before making sure that around every corner, there were no black and red hedgehogs standing around for her to run in to.

**X-X-X**

Shadow couldn't focus in his 2nd period Art class, which wasn't too much of a surprise for him at all. He never focused. But he couldn't focus on drifting off to sleep either. That perturbed him somewhat. There were too many thoughts circulating in his head, all of which had to do with a blonde, rebellious little hedgehog who wouldn't listen to reasoning.

_It's so painfully obvious that he only wants to make sure she stays his just so he can show her off to his low-class buddies as a trophy. He's going to such lengths for her, though, that one could almost say he was serious about loving her, if he wasn't 15 and a Werehog._ If he had honestly been saving up for that car, then he could have easily afforded that ring. Amy had mentioned it to Sonic back during the summer, saying that in the next town over there was a ring that would fit her perfectly, and basically begging Sonic to propose to her. She'd shown both males a picture of it, complete with the price tag of $4,527. It was the same ring Amber had pulled from her pocket. Spikes must have been saving up for a while for a new car if he could afford that, especially with his social status.

_Which is another thing…she's too high class to waste her time with someone like that. The odds are against that werehog to ever amount to anything other than a blue-collar worker._

Glancing at the clock, Shadow mentally rejoiced that class was almost over. He didn't like art at all; he just took it as an easy A, and he wanted to quit thinking about the disappointment the new girl was setting herself up to be. He also wanted to quit thinking about how stubborn she was. She reminded him of a certain blue annoyance…

The shrill bell startled Shadow almost to the point of him showing it physically, but he caught himself at the last moment. He checked his schedule for his 3rd hour, discovering it was Algebra II. _Oh god._ Math teachers were always the hardest to fall asleep on, especially if they taught an advanced course. They'd expect him to actually pay attention and repeat back to them what they'd said, and Shadow hated talking in class. Usually some girl (or girls) would swoon over his dark voice, as though they'd never seen a bad boy type before and thought he was the greatest invention since the sports bra.

_Ugh, god. I almost forgot that I'd have to be dealing with groupies again…_ As with Sonic, Shadow always had a set of 4 or 5 groupies trying to hang off his shoulders, vying for his attention. He often wished they would all go for the big-shot himself, since he loved being in the spot light. But, of course, most were somewhat terrified to get to close, because of a certain pink terror who was practiced with a hammer…

"_Oof!_" Shadow pitched forward as he felt someone bump into him from behind. He whirled around, and speak of the pink devil herself…

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry Shadow!" She apologized, backing up just a bit. Skilled with a hammer or not, she was still somewhat frightened by his dark personality. "I was trying to catch up to Amber and didn't notice where I was going! We have the next class together, ya know! I saw her schedule earlier. She just came from Health, and she has Pre-AP Econ/Civics after this!" she babbled on in her normal cheery voice.

"Uhh…okay? Why would I care what classes she has?" He asked, slightly annoyed that she was still there.

"Well, I don't know. Sheesh, you don't have to be a brat about it! I was just thinking you'd want to know since you two seemed to have really hit it off," she replied indignantly.

"Yeah well, it by 'hit it off', you mean almost hit each other's heads off our shoulders, then yes, you would be correct."

"Wow, a lover's spat already? You two sure move fast!"

If she wasn't holding that hammer behind her back as she spoke, Shadow would have Chaos Speared her straight into next week. Instead, however, he chose a safer approach:

"You know I wouldn't waste my time trying to get a girlfriend." He began to stalk off to his classroom, mumbling something about pink hedgehogs and their love-addictions.

"Bye Shadow! See you at lunch!" Amy called after him in a sing-song voice.

It was at this moment that Shadow was seriously considering Chaos Blasting every female hedgehog out of existence, if it didn't mean he'd be haunted for the rest of his life by two vengeful, demonic spirits whose names both started with an A.

_No matter how hard you try to  
You can't make the clock rewind to  
The moment that you lied to yourself…_

**X-X-X**

**I went on ahead and published the second chapter, since the first chapter is just introductions and it's kind of boring.**

**Drop a review :) Does it seem like it has potential? I already have 8 chapters written, but I'm going to draw out publishing each one, so maybe I won't run into a long break between updates if writer's block hits me.**


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER: Sonic&Co belong to Sega. Spikes belongs to AdioXGen on DA. Everything else is mine.**

**Chapter 3**

Having a class with Amy Rose was…interesting, to say the least.

For starters, Amber was tackled to the ground in a vice-grip hug the moment she was able to enter the locker room, only being able to see a ball of pink fluff and spikes that was currently chattering excitedly about something related to some kind of lover's fight. Amber figured it was something between her and Sonic or something like that.

"Amy! Amy slow down and retell me about whatever it is that you're talking about between you and Son-"

"Oh, I guess I really was talking too fast! I was talking about you and Shadow's fight!" Amy shouted just a bit too loud, causing some girls to turn their heads.

Amber rolled her eyes. "Amy, there is no 'fight.' He and I simply disagree over a certain situation and I would really appreciate it if you'd lower your-"

"What kind of situation?" Amy interrupted, oblivious to her still-loud voice, despite the fact she was still sitting on Amber and didn't have to almost yell in order to be heard by the golden hedgehog. "Is it your wedding date? Or maybe it's the type of wedding cake! Personally, I prefer-"

"AMY!" Amber quickly sat up and clamped a hand over her over-enthusiastic friend's mouth. She tried to tell herself mentally that she was only imagining the death-glares she was receiving from other girls the moment "wedding date" came out of Amy's mouth. "It's NOTHING like that." Rising off the ground while keeping her hand clamped over Amy's mouth, she continued. "It has to do with something that happened between my parents and me. He disagrees with how I handled it and now thinks I'm retarded. Okay?" She finally released her hold on the pink hedgehog's mouth and sat down on one of the benches, silently relieved that most girls had stopped sending her death threats through their stares.

"Oooohhh! Okay! Well ya know, whenever you two start having relationship problems, I'm chock full of advice that I'd be more than happy to give!" Amy clasped her hands together in front of her chest, looking at Amber with a completely innocent gaze. Amber smiled and ruffled her hair a bit.

"Of course Amy. If there's ever even a _relationship_ between Shadow and I, I'll be sure to consult you for advice," she stressed the first part of her second statement enough that anyone left wondering would know that there was absolutely no chance of anything between the light and dark hedgehogs, unless it was a war. Strangely, however, she found herself sincere when she mentioned going to Amy for advice. _She may be crazy and unable to handle getting the guy of her dreams, but maybe she has good advice dealing with the actual relationship itself, after things move ahead._ "In return for that, I'd actually like to offer you some advice on how to actually _get_ the guy of your dreams," Amber continued, smiling. "I think I might can help you with your Sonic troubles, ya know? I've known guys like him before, and I can tell you-"

"You'd do that for me?" Amy gasped in surprise, her eyes lighting up. "You can get me and Sonic together! Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, OH MY GOSH! Amber, you are the best thing since Piko Piko hammers!" Her voice rose as she spoke, and she trapped Amber in another rib-crushing hug.

"Umm…not sure what that is, but-"

"Oh, it's this!" Amy pulled out an ENORMOUS hammer from behind her back (who knows where she stored that thing…) and immediately anyone in the room who'd known Amy Rose prior backed up against the walls.

Amber laughed nervously, noticing that there were one or two blue quills stuck in the hammer. _I don't even wanna imagine how hard she had to hit poor Sonic so that his quills got stuck…_ "Ohhh okay. Well, like I was saying, I can _help_ you. Now, please promise me you won't get too terribly mad if, even after everything we try, Sonic still doesn't like you. If he doesn't like you, he doesn't like you…there's nothing much I can do about that…" _Although I don't know how he can still resist her when he knows she carries that thing around…_

"Oh, Amber, with your plans and my adorable-ness, there's no WAY Sonic will be able to resist me any longer!"

_If "adorable-ness" means "scariness"… "_Well thank you Amy for having faith in my ideas," Amber's heart rate began to calm down as the hammer disappeared from Amy's hands, the pink girl sitting down beside Amber.

"Alright girls, we're just going to start on our first unit today, since this class will be pretty much no different than any other P.E. class you've had in the past. Here's the basic stuff…"

As she went into a quick summary of the class rules, Amber whispered quickly to Amy. "I'll tell you what you have to do at lunch, alright?"

Amy nodded enthusiastically, and then acquired a dreamy gaze as though she was already planning what they'd be like on their wedding day.

Which, knowing Amy, that was exactly what she was doing.

**X-X-X**

From the moment he walked into the room, Shadow knew he was _not_ going to enjoy his math class. At all.

As he sat his things down at a desk in the back corner of the room, he was approached by a group of 3 girls. _Oh, Chaos…here we go…_

"Hi, I'm Pate!" A purple duck introduced herself first. She had freckles on her cheeks and just a bit too much rouge on. "And this is Tiffany and Belle!" She pointed to a white cat with brown hair and a black mouse with red hair, respectively.

"Hey!" They both said.

"Hi," was the only response they got from the dark hedgehog. They stood there in silence for a bit, before the cat spoke next.

"Well what's your name?"

"Shadow."

"Ooh, that's such a cool name! Is it because you're a bad boy?" The mouse sat on the edge of his desk and started walking her fingers up his shirt. He tried to shrug her away, but she merely leaned in even closer. "Well, I could be a bad girl, if you want me to…"

"That won't be needed," he responded quickly, forcing his voice to sound strong and aloof, despite the fact that all he wanted was to Chaos Control the hell out of that class room. And maybe even off of the continent, away from all these crazy females.

With her pride slightly hurt, the mouse stood back up with a small "hmpf," and her other two friends looked slightly concerned, but at the same time, seemed even more attracted to his mysterious personality.

"Soo, Shadow…do you have a girlfriend?" The duck, Pate, spoke after yet another uncomfortable silence.

Shadow contemplated what he should say. If he said yes, that would no doubt incur more questions about who she was, and he had no answer for that. Not to mention it would be all over that school in an instant, and after what Amy had said earlier, that certainly wouldn't mean good news for him.

However, if he were to say no, they would _never_ leave him alone, and then even more girls would start following him around, vying for his attention, just like they did every year. And every year, his patience with the bubble heads got thinner and thinner.

"Class, please take your seats! If you're not in your seats in the next 5 seconds, you will receive lunch detention!" The elderly hawk clapped her hands and everyone quickly rushed to their seats.

It was at that moment, for the first time in history, that Shadow Robotnik was actually _glad_ that class started.

**X-X-X**

Amber swore that she had just been through the most hilarious baseball game ever.

At the very beginning, Amy and a black raven named Mida were picked as team captains, and the two girls began to fight over who would have to wear the old jerseys. A whispered reminder that there was a Piko Piko hammer in Amy's vicinity quickly determined who was stuck with the jerseys.

Once the game commenced, Amy insisted on batting first. No girl argued, considering on how often she swung around that hammer at a target that ran faster than the speed of sound, she must have been somewhat good at simple batting.

However, she struck out without even coming close to the ball. It was at that moment that she insisted with the coach, a rather old looking leopard, that she be allowed to use her hammer instead, on the premises that she had much more practice with it, and that the bat was too "narrow for her to hit such an itty-bitty ball with."

The coach insisted that Amy keep the hammer hidden, since no weapons were allowed at school, and instead told Amy she could have a do-over.

On the first pitch, Amy swung with all her might…and broke the bat.

"It's too fragile!" She shouted back at the teacher, who was busy wondering just how such a small girl could cause a _sponge ball_ to blast through a brick wall using a _sponge bat._

"Uh, Rose, why don't you pitch instead?" She asked the girl carefully, looking for another bat to replace the broken one.

"Okay! This'll be fun!"

"Amy, remember, you aim _next_ to the person, where the bat will swing, and not _at_ them, okay?" Amber whispered to the other as she walked up to bat. "_Please_ don't hit me!"

"Oh Amber, don't worry! I'm much better at throwing than I am at hitting!" She promised, happily skipping up to the pitcher's mound.

_Oh Chaos…_

Surprisingly, Amy did have a good throw, and managed not to maim anyone the entire time she was pitching.

Managing a base, however, was another story entirely.

Amy took third base and every single time someone caught the ball, she insisted that they throw it to her, whether someone was heading to her base or not.

"Rose! Don't call for the ball unless you actually need it!" The coach criticized.

"But…I throw better than anyone else out here! I could get them out easily!" She began to wail. A blue lizard ran up to her and began to comfort her.

"Amy, it's all right, we all know how awesome you are, but you've gotta give some other people a chance to try to become as good as you!"

"Oh..well they keep on taking up all the turns! I want to get someone out…"

Amber couldn't help but think the entire exchange between the two was absolutely hysterical. The lizard tried desperately to say anything, _anything_ that would make Amy content, and every time it led to Amy arguing with back with something else. The coach finally told the rest of the players to continue, while the poor lizard was left all by herself to try to make stubborn Amy understand. Amber moved in to watch third base, while Amy seemed to not even notice anything that was going on around them.

_This school is hilarious,_ she thought as she watched the other girls attempt to do at least half-way decently at batting, but it wasn't long before three girls struck out, and they were back to batting.

The game went on like that through the entire class period, and everyone was no doubt elated when the coach announced the end of class. Quickly checking her schedule, Amber noted that she had Pre-AP Civics next.

_Oh yeah, I almost forgot…class with Shadow again…_ Amber mentally groaned. She didn't feel like listening to another person tell her that she was wrong.

_Because I totally don't get that enough at home._

**X-X-X**

_Oh Chaos. Please end this suffering._

The dark hedgehog had indeed been caught in quite a bit of sticky situations. He'd been trapped on top of large, still-under-construction structures (Thanks to Sonic), fallen into the shark tank at an aquarium (Sonic, again), woken up to find large amounts of makeup on his face that wouldn't come out of his fur for _weeks_ (due to Maria and her slumber party mates), arrested by the police, and even chased down the city streets with Sonic by rabid "yaoi fangirls", as they called themselves (Shadow did not know—nor did he care to know—what the heck a "yaoi" was and what it had to do with him and Sonic). But he would have preferred _any _of those situations than the one he'd been trapped in at the moment.

A few girls let out small squeals that sounded like they meant "oh how CUTE!" as Shadow felt a deep blush rising to his cheeks, thanks to the teacher, who just _had_ to wake him up out of a somewhat pleasant nap.

"Since you prefer to sleep instead of pay attention, I am forced to give you something to wake you up," the teacher had said in her scratchy voice after whacking a ruler on his desk, startling the striped Mobian to the point that he jumped up a bit.

_You're not _forced_ to do anything; no one's holding a gun to your head. However, that can be changed…_

"Please stand up in the front of the class and list the digits of pi out 100 decimal places."

He twitched his ears and a scowl took over his face. "You want me to do…_what?" _He asked darkly.

"You heard me. Now, get started. And every time you mess up, you have to start over."

"I can't do that! I don't think _anyone_ can!" He exclaimed indignantly.

"Oh, is that so? Well then, your alternative is…sing your ABCs in front of this whole class," the purple hawk grinned at him in a way that seemed almost dastardly.

"You're kidding me…" he mumbled as his cheeks began to turn a deeper shade of red. His ear-tips were burning from the embarrassment.

"Please, do hurry, Mr. Robotnik, I would like to let this class out on time, and I'm certain they wouldn't appreciate being held up just because _Mr. Badd_ doesn't want to recite a song he's known since he wore diapers."

A few classmates snickered, and Shadow was merely seconds away from just Chaos Blasting the whole school into bits. _She can't be serious…_

"Mr. Robotnik! I told you do something, and as your teacher I expect you to respect me enough to do as I ask!" The hawk held her ruler towards his nose, causing Shadow to shrink back just a bit.

_Ugh…I will do this ONCE, and then I will personally _kill _anyone who chooses to mention it._

Shadow took a deep breath…

"abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyANDZ!" He managed to squeeze into all of 2 seconds. The class burst out laughing. "Chaos, can I sit down now?" _Or would you like to see me do the chicken dance next?_ He almost added.

"Thank you Mr. Robotnik, I trust that there will be no more mid-morning naps in my class?"

"Of course not ma'am," he replied in mock respect as the laughter died down, although it was close to starting back up again when the sarcasm was clearly heard in his voice. _I "respect" you too much to do that._

He was lucky he thought before he spoke, otherwise he would have no doubt been kicked out of school a long time ago.

It was then that the shrill bell's call was heard throughout the school, and Shadow was gone out of the room and around the next corner before it was finished.

**X-X-X**

**I was reading through the first two chapters and I realized that honestly, not much happens. And it's not very interesting. So I'm uploading the next few chapters so that readers get a better idea of what's going on here.**

**The first 2 or 3 chapters are older, and for some reason I insisted on dragging out the first day of school. That won't be a constant thing. I promise. It will pick up soon. I'm almost done with it :3 When I finish I'll upload all remaining chapters.**

**Aside from that, expect either weekly or bi-weekly updates :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Sonic and Co. belong to Sega. Spikes belongs to AdioXGen on DA. Everything else is mine.**

**Phantomask, these two chapters are for you, because you are so eager to read more XD Thanks for being the first reviewer 3 Spikes appreciates your love for him :D**

**Chapter 4**

Amber and Shadow didn't even acknowledge each other when they reached their next class. They sat on opposite sides of the room, and Amber never spared him so much as a glance.

_I don't understand. She seems to be so intelligent. How can she not see what he really is? I guess love really is blind…_

Shadow growled to himself in frustration. But honestly, what could he do? He was a stranger to Amber. She wouldn't listen to him. He'd have to gain her trust first.

_Oh, Chaos, getting her a brain transplant would be easier, it seems…_ He really didn't want to get so close to anyone as to call them a "best friend." He was still having problems with allowing friends back into his life. He was constantly worrying about all of them, even little Rose. He felt that if he lost any of them, it would destroy him.

_Take a deep breath Shadow. You're overthinking things again…_ he forced himself to listen to the droning of the instructor, who was off on some tangent involving some of his past adventures with the other teachers, specifically the other Civics teacher. Apparently there was some kind of "feud" going on between the two teachers. _Really. That's so mature. Well, I guess we'll get to see some interesting pranks this year, then._

When the bell finally rang, both hedgehogs couldn't be more relieved. It was lunch time. Time to find out who would be in their lunch. Amber prayed that her luck would be kind and she wouldn't be stuck with Shadow as her only friend.

**X-X-X**

Amber sat between Amy and Shadow, with Sonic on the other side of Amy. Amber's advice was to back off, just a little bit, from chasing Sonic all the time. So, in Amy's mind, this meant go from being clingy to staring at him all during lunch, but not touching him. _Well, it's a slight improvement…_Amber thought to herself. She stole a glance at Shadow, who noticed her looking and scowled down at her. She sighed inwardly. _Great. First day, already made an enemy._ She glanced at some of the other students at her table.

Tracy, a purple owl, sat across from her. On either side of her was Butch, a large black dog, and Chess, a black and white checkered lynx. Jet, a green hawk, sat beside and argued with Sonic for most of the lunch, while Jenny, the blue lizard from Amber's PE class, sat on the other side of Shadow. These were the only other kids who were really included with this "popular" group, the rest of the students at the table were simply onlookers and groupies, wanting to be close to the beloved group, but too shy to actually socialize. They followed the group constantly and considered themselves a part of it, but everyone else knew they weren't.

Amber finished nibbling on her school hamburger, then stood up to toss her trash. She walked outside, unaware of Shadow following her. She sat on a bench at the side of the courtyard and watched a group of boys start up a basketball game, Sonic eventually joining them with Amy cheering on the sidelines.

"Look. Let's just put our argument past us, okay? Just forget I said anything. I know you won't listen, and it's your life, so you should be able to make your own decisions," Shadow spoke first. Amber sighed and looked up at him.

"…Ok. As long as you promise me you'll just stay out of it."

Shadow nodded and watched the basketball game with absolutely no interest. The two sat in a less than comfortable silence, until Shadow sighed again.

"Making friends is hard for me," he said out of the blue.

"And why is that?"

"I worry. It's surprising, I know, but I worry a lot about my friends. It destroyed me to lose my sister. I didn't think I could take any more pain, big or small. I couldn't stand to lose a friend after that. I knew it would destroy me. I constantly thought about every possible way I could lose any of my friends. Sonic would be out on a run and get caught in a drive by shooting. Rose could be playing outside in front of her house, and some sick pervert would come and snatch her up. Rouge or Blaze might be held up for their money. Knuckles would tick off the wrong person. Tails might be bullied to the point that he wanted to kill himself. All of these thoughts tortured me, and even more that involved other friends I don't keep in touch with anymore." Shadow took a long breath, thinking back. "Finally, I realized that these risks had always been there. There had always been the possibility that I might lose a friend to this. And I realized…that shouldn't keep me from them. If I'm so worried about losing them, then I should cherish all the time I did have with them. No, I don't take very much of an active part in whatever we're doing, but regardless, I'm enjoying it. I like to sit back. Watch what goes on around me. What others are experiencing. Watching my friends be happy is enough for me.

"And even now…I still fear losing a friend. And I feel like if I make more friends, there's that much more of a risk that I'll lose one. And that….that's my only fear."

Amber looked up at him. "So…you do have a soft side, after all. That's interesting, coming from someone like you…why are you telling me this."

"You told me a secret. I figured one good turn deserved another. Well, that's my deepest secret."

Amber sat in silence for a moment, staring ahead. Then, with a slight grin, she looked back up at the hedgehog. "Well…that's not much of a secret at all. I think a lot of people worry about their loved ones. …You're boring."

Shadow back at her with a slightly annoyed look on his face. Amber held his gaze and her smirk. Finally, Shadow looked away from her, hiding his own small smile. "Yes. I guess I am."

The courtyard began to clear out; the next class was about to begin. Amber placed a hand on her companion's shoulder. "Hey. It may be hard, but you know, having friends is more than just hanging out and having fun. Friends are also there to comfort each other in times of strife and pain. And I want to be your friend. I'll always be here for you if you need someone to talk to. Promise."

Shadow looked up at the small hedgehog. He returned her smile after a bit. "Okay. Thank you." He stood up and headed for the building. "Well, come on. We have our next class together, don't we?"

"You go on ahead. I have to run to my locker," Amber turned and headed for her locker. She opened it up and pulled the ring out of her pocket, eyeing it once again.

"Spikes…" she whispered softly. "They're just jealous. They don't understand. They just haven't had the privilege of having a love like ours." Amber ran her thumb slowly over the rose. "But we'll prove them wrong, won't we?"

_It never even mattered how they felt  
Your secrets and regrets  
Are keeping you from going very far…_

**X-X-X**

**Okay, I think this is just a little bit better. I don't wanna put EVERYTHING up all at once. I'm currently working on chapter 9, I think there's 3 or 4 more chapters still to be written.**

**After this, all updates will be weekly or bi-weekly, unless I finish the story soon. I'm going to take a bit of a break from it though, and work on some of my other stories, simply because I've got really good notes on how I want the rest of the story to play out, and I wanna use my re-found love of writing on some of my other fics as well, before either my schedule becomes busy once again, or I hit a dead streak.**

**Regardless, I wouldn't be surprised if I finished this before the end of this month. Drop a review, please! :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Blah blah blah who cares we all know what I own and don't own by now XD**

**S/O to Phantomask and lydiathetigeropean for reading and reviewing! Glad you guys are enjoying the story. It's people like you encourage me to write more.**

**Chapter 5**

"Oh my gosh, I think that Biology will be our best class this year," Amber could hardly keep from laughing as she, Amy, and Shadow left for their next classes.

"I think I might have to agree with you," Shadow replied with a smirk. "He's a very interesting character, I will say that."

"Interesting? He has tons of feral animals all around the room! He has pythons, fish, turtles, and who knows what in that one cage! I think I saw like a mouse or something," Amy and Amber couldn't stop laughing. "Not to mention how ridiculous he is, what does he just enjoy speaking in Shakespearean? I wonder how long it took him to learn how to talk like that."

"Well, it definitely wasn't an easy task for him to do. And he acts like he has to use those huge words all the time. That's what I think is the funniest part. I think I'll have to invest in a pocket dictionary."

"I agree with that. Well, Shadow, Amy, I guess I'll see you at the end of the day?" Amber stopped in the hallway where the three would have to split apart.

"Well, I'm not waiting around for too long, but I guess I'll hang back for a little bit. Bye," Shadow turned to head off to his next class.

"I'll wait around for you, don't worry about that mean old hedgehog," Amy offered. Amber smiled and thanked her, then in search for her Algebra 2 class.

**X-X-X**

"Ah, Amber, it's been a long time, hasn't it?"

"Oh! Mrs. Cathy! It really has been a long time. I didn't realize that you were a teacher here!"

The gray mouse smiled at her pupil. "Of course. And I'll be happy to help you at any time if you don't understand what's going on in class. How are your parents?"

"They're doing great," Amber tried to hide her slight anger at the mention of her parents. She couldn't help it, she was still very upset that they were so close-minded.

Mrs. Cathy was a long-time friend of her mother's, and babysat little Amber any time her mother needed it. It had indeed been a long time since the small hedgehog had seen her favorite nanny. She was glad that she'd have such a nice person as her math teacher. Math wasn't exactly her most-loved class, but having someone like Mrs. Cathy would help things a little bit throughout the year.

Sadly, that was the only familiar face in her math class. Amber sighed and took an empty seat in the middle of the classroom. She'd have to find a decent friend or two for this class so she wasn't so bored.

An indigo-colored rabbit sat next to her. "Hello, I am called Skye. I just moved here and I am trying to make some new friends." The rabbit had a thick accent that suggested she was definitely not from this part of the world. "Perhaps we could become friends?"

Amber smiled. "My name's Amber. And I'm trying to make some new friends too. Of course we can be friends. This will help with the boring level of this class. I'm not a math person."

"I love mathematics. I would be more than happy to help you any time you wanted it, if that is okay with you?"

"I'd love to have a tutor," Amber gave her a genuine smile. "Let's see how much of this class I can understand, and then we can talk study times."

"That sounds excellent to me," the exotic rabbit smiled back. "Cheers, for my first friend here in this country!"

"Yes, cheers!"

**X-X-X**

The sound of thousands of chattering students filled the halls, along with a chorus of slamming lockers and the beat of all different styles of shoes smacking the floors as their bearers dashed out of the school, eager to get out of the "prison" that held them each day from 8:45 to 4 every day. Amber made her way carefully from her final class, Art, to her locker at the other end of the school. _Oh well, Shadow probably won't wait for me, but at least I can walk with Amy._

Just as Amber predicted, her new midnight-furred friend wasn't waiting around for her, but the bright pink hedgehog was waiting loyally by her locker.

"Oh wow Amber, is your last class at the other end of the school or something? I've been waiting for _forever_!"

"I'm sorry Amy, I really tried to hurry. I have art, in E103, so yeah, I'm kinda at the other end of this stupid building. Great Chaos, I don't think they built a big enough school for all these people—Ahh!" Amber was suddenly shoved forward against the wall as a reckless teen dashed past her. "Ow, jerk," she mumbled under her breath. As she looked for the culprit, her eyes caught a flash of yellow fur. The individual looked to be big at first, and for a moment, her heart skipped a beat. _Could it be…Spikes?_

She was able to get a better view of the figure, and realized that while this individual was definitely the right height, they were far too skinny to be her werehog. She sighed inwardly and tried once again to open her locker.

"I agree, that was rather rude," a deep voice rumbled beside Amber. She jumped and yelped a bit out of surprise.

"Chaos, Shadow, you scared me!"

"Oh, hi grumpypants!" Amy greeted in a sing-song voice. "Where's Sonic? Did he already go home without me…?"

"I noticed, Amber. And yes Amy, he actually did. He was surprised to not see you out in front of the gym waiting for him. I think it threw him off a little."

Amy tried to hide her inner joy. "Oh really? Was he disappointed?"

"Actually…I think he was," Shadow nodded at her before turning his attention back to Amber, who'd finally managed to get her locker open and was addressing him.

"I thought you said you weren't going to wait around for me?"

"Well…I just got over here, so it looks like I didn't have to wait at all," Shadow retorted. "But if you want rid of me that bad, I guess I'll just head off."

Amber looked at him with slight annoyance and slammed her locker shut. "Whatever. Let's go, guys."

The trio walked carefully through the masses, trying to wade through the bodies to make it to the front door. Finally, they were out in the open. Amber took a huge breath of fresh air. "Freaking finally! I was about to get claustrophobic!"

Amy laughed and agreed with her. "I know, why aren't any of these people going home?"

"Who knows? So where's everyone else?" Amber looked around for the rest of their group.

"Knuckles has football, which will last until 5. Sonic went home right after track," Shadow told her, leaning against the concrete railing of the front steps.

"Rouge has cheer, so she'll probably stay behind to gossip. And I know that Blaze does basketball, so that's another 5 o'clock practice. Oh, and Tails has tennis, and since we don't have tennis courts, he's over at the youth center with the rest of the team. So we're the only ones, really," Amy added. Amber nodded.

"Well then…which way are you guys walking?"

Both hedgehogs pointed off to the right of the school, which was the way Amber would be heading as well. "Oh, well, that's great! I live that way too. So let's go, I guess."

The trio talked mostly about their first day, and the antics of their classmates.

"…And I can already tell that Beo, a ram in my Oral Comm class, will be a definite class clown. I mean, he's so ridiculous!" Amy laughed as she spoke. "Oh, hey, here's where I leave you guys, I guess," she finished as she looked down her street. The three were standing at a fork in the main road.

"Well, mine's a few roads down this one…" Amber pointed to the other end of the intersection. "How about we meet up here every day and walk to school together?"

"Oh, that sounds like a great idea! What time?"

Shadow glanced at his watch. "It's about 4:20 right now. So it's taken us between 10 and 15 minutes to walk here. I say we should say 8:00."

"Sounds great, 8 it is! Bye Shadow! Bye Amber!" Amy skipped happily down her street away from the pair.

"Well, what about you Shadow? Where's your street?"

"It's down this road here, same direction as yours." He began walking down the street. "So, let's get going. I'm starving."

Amber nodded and walked beside him, the two assuming the silence they were starting to grow used to. A few streets down, Shadow stopped. "Well, I guess this is where we part."

Amber looked down his street and then nodded at him. "Are we going to meet here first before meeting Amy, or are we just going to meet up where we meet Amy?"

"Do you want to meet here first?" Shadow asked.

"Well, quite frankly, I don't mind either way…"

"Then we'll meet when we meet Rose. Good bye, Amber." Without even waiting for a response, he turned and headed down his street. Amber sighed as she was left alone, and headed for her house, which was about another 5 minute walk, including the 2 or 3 minutes it took her to walk up their drive.

She finally reached the front gate and punched in her entry code. The iron gates swung open and she walked up the decorated drive. Her house was the site of what was called the Old Berkley Mansion. It was subject to a large fire at one point, but her parents paid to have it restored so that they could move to a more convenient place for Amber's school. The old house still held some of its original appearance, as well as the rustic charm, but also had a modern swing to it. Amber didn't know much about the house history, but she guessed it was probably an old plantation house, or something similar. She sighed softly. Sometimes she wished she didn't come from so much money. Maybe then she would be allowed to be with her werehog.

She opened up the large wooden doors and called out to her mother. "Mom! I'm home!"

A grey hedgehog with black hair appeared from the kitchen. "Hello baby, how was your first day of school?"

Amber's mom might be an older woman, but time had been kind to her. She had short, somewhat curly hair. She managed to retain the same figure she'd had in high school, which was very curvy and alluring. She had dark, chocolate brown eyes. Amber had not inherited anything from her mother at all, appearance-wise.

"It was good, I made some new friends already." Amber began to describe her new friends to her mother, who put dinner aside to hear what her daughter had to say.

"They all sound very interesting, I would love to meet these people. Do you know anything of their social standings?" Amber sighed as her mother asked the inevitable question. "Now don't get mad at me, it would just be nice if I could have something in common with your friend's parents."

"I would guess they're all upper middle to upper class. I don't know for sure. Well, Rouge I'm almost 100 percent certain she's from money. And two of them I know for sure live somewhat nearby, so they've got to come from some kind of money."

"Well I am definitely eager to meet these friends of yours. Anybody else?"

"Oh yes, and also I met this really dark blue colored rabbit named Skye. She said I'm her first friend in this country. She seems nice. She's in my math class, she said she'd help me out, because she was good with math. Oh! And Mrs. Cathy is my Algebra teacher! I'm so excited!"

"Oh, I do love her. She'll be a great teacher, you'll enjoy that class. Well, I've got to finish up dinner. If you have any homework, get that done." Amber nodded and headed up the stairs to her room. She worked on her "About Me" packets until dinner was ready.

As she was falling asleep much later that night, she considered her group of friends once again.

_Amy Rose. She's childish but cute. It's not annoying, except maybe to Sonic. She's just inexperienced with relationships. But it looks like she really wants him, and will do almost anything to win his affections. If she continues to just take my advice, he'll be begging her to date him._

_Sonic Hedgehog. I honestly don't know much about him, because I don't really see him during the day. But he seems like something else. He definitely thinks he's all that, and Amy probably only added fuel to that fire. I don't know that he'd be anyone I'd want to date anyways. There's nothing wrong with him, but I just don't really feel anything for him._

_Rouge Prada. She would be a great best friend. I would love to hang out with her more. We could do makeovers, go shopping together, just be really girly together. Blaze is her best friend, I can tell. And I would love to hang out with both of them._

_Knuckles and Tails are two more people I don't know much about. But Knuckles seems pretty cute. I could go for someone like him. Tails would be something like a brother to me._

_And finally, Shadow Robotnik. He's a card, I'll say that. He likes his "mysterious" appearance, whether he admits to that or not. I doubt I'd ever be able to break through that hard exterior, really. Maybe sometimes I'll see little glimpses of the hedgehog inside, but I know he's got a past that hurts him deeply. If I never get to be a close friend to him, I'll understand one hundred percent. I doubt I'd ever date anybody like him._

Amber glanced at her beside table, where the ring glittered softly in the light given off by the full moon outside of her room. "Spikes…sometimes I miss you and sometimes I forget you exist. What is with that? Maybe this distance is taking its toll on me. 3 more years…almost 2…we've almost made it. We're almost able to be together. And then…we'll prove everyone wrong, won't we baby?" She smiled to herself.

"I love you, Spikes the Werehog. And I'll do anything for you. I know everyone else is wrong. They don't understand. But we'll make them understand. We'll make them."\

**X-X-X**

**Ah, finally done with the first day of school being stretched out over 5 chapters. I promise it's not like this the whole way through.**

**I decided to say screw it on updating weekly. The story IS complete, but I'm taking my time with proof reading it. I wrote the last 6 or 7 chapters during an all-nighter, so they're a little rushed. I've already gone back and added more to each one.**

**There are 13 chapters total. I'll add a new one every few days. Meanwhile, I should probably go work on my other fanfics…XD**

**Thanks for reading and putting up with me thus far. Drop a review, and the next chapter will be up in a few days! It's time for this story to pick up already!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Time to address guest reviews :D**

**KiratheHedgehog: I'm glad you think so ^.^ And it's good to hear that my reads think that I'm keeping everyone in character. That's a pretty big concern of mine at the moment. And I hope you're not too disappointed, because I stop using SO much detail, but I hope there's still enough there for you XD I've always been concerned that maybe I use TOO much detail. Thanks for your review**

**You know the disclaimer~**

**Chapter 6**

The school year continued on without any strange events, which Amber was grateful for. No one else seemed to catch wind of Amber's past with a werehog. And there was no sign of him at her school.

She'd invited the whole group over to her house for the first time about the second week of school for a movie night. It was also a chance for her to get to know the boys she didn't see often during the school day or after school. Their parents had met, and to Amber it seemed like there'd be no problems with the parents not getting along. Neither her mom or her dad had said anything negative about the other parents.

Amber, Rouge, and Blaze went on constant trips to the spa and the mall, always looking for a new style for them. The three girls were always one step ahead of the styles. They'd tried to get Amy to go along with them often, but she and Sonic were beginning to grow closer, and Amy usually spent her time on dates with him where he _wasn't_ being held against his will, and never had too much interest in changing the way she looked, in case it messed up her chances with her blue dream.

Amber and Skye got together once or twice a week to work on math projects or just for peer tutoring, and grew to be great friends. Amber found out that Skye came from a country literally on the other side of the world, and would be going back at the end of the school year. She was simply here to study for one year, to learn what the culture was like here. Amber was more than happy to help her with any questions she had about their customs.

Amber and Shadow fought constantly at the beginning of the year, but as the first quarter approached its end, the two found themselves able to look past their disagreements, rather than fight over them for days. To Amber's surprise, she noticed that they were actually very close. One day she dared to call him her best friend. Shadow at first stared at her like she was stupid, and Amber inwardly feared she'd made a mistake. But then, a smile crept across his fawn-colored muzzle, and he nodded. "Yes…I guess we are…best friends, aren't we?"

As first quarter finals approached, Amber made an effort to create study dates for everyone in her group, plus Skye. She successfully helped Skye become a part of their little group, which pleased the foreign rabbit to no end. Sometimes, all 7 Mobians could get together, and other times, it was only two people studying. Occasionally, Amber even received a call from Shadow to help him with something on the study guide he didn't understand. The two spent a lot of time at each others' houses, enjoying the company and more often than not, playing chess or taking trips to the library in search of more to read. Amber found out a lot about her new best friend. He was smarter than he was athletic, which surprised the light colored hedgehog to no end, but also pleased her, as she finally had someone who shared similar interests who _wasn't_ an "outsider".

During the week-long break after quarter finals, Amber found herself in an awful mood that she couldn't shake. She missed Spikes terribly. They hadn't talked in a long time, and she was afraid that he had forgotten about her. She called up Shadow and asked if she could come over and vent for a while. He sat perfectly still and attentive as she spilled her worries to him.

"…Well, do you want my honest opinion, or do you want to hear words that I think you want to hear?"

Amber sniffed slightly, trying to hold back her tears. "Honest opinion…" she braced herself for the worst.

"If he forgets about you that would be the best damn thing that's happened to you yet. You know what I think about him. I agree with your parents, and I know you don't want to hear that. You never do. But look at this, is this what you call love? Crying over him, thinking he's forgotten about you? If there's doubt, maybe there's a good reason for it. Maybe deep inside, you know it's wrong, but you've fought for it so much that you're not ready to let it go. Not just yet. You don't want to be wrong. So you work as hard as you can to make it right. But you're just hurting yourself. You need to stop. You should forget about him. You really should."

Amber stared at the ground as tears escaped her eyes, despite her efforts. "But…no…I really do love him…and he loves me…no…you're wrong, you have to be wrong. Spikes said that I was all he ever wanted."

"Amber, you're old enough to know that there are those who will _lie_ to you. No matter who it is. Everyone is capable of lying."

"Then how do I know that you're not lying? How do I know that he is?"

Shadow didn't answer. He couldn't. She had a point. But he knew that this Spikes was lying. He had to be. "You need to just let go."

Without a word, Amber stood up and walked out of his house. Shadow waited a bit, then followed silently behind. She was headed back to her house.

As soon as she was safe on the other side of the gates, Shadow turned around and headed home. _Eventually she'll realize that as her best friend I only want the best for her. Just because I haven't had a best friend in a long time doesn't mean I've forgotten how to be one._

_You're holding all this pain inside you  
Can't seem to leave it all behind you…_

**X-X-X**

**Two chapters today, because this one was painfully short DX**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: See first few chapters.**

**Chapter 7**

That was the first time in a long time that Amber and Shadow had fought over something. When school resumed, the two became somewhat strangers once again. Amber didn't want anything to do with Shadow, in case he tried to bring it back up.

Shadow got to the point where he wanted to give up. He knew he wasn't going to convince her of anything.

A few weeks after, the two made an effort to patch up their friendship once again.

"Look. We need to stop fighting about things like this...it gets us no where. You won't listen to me, and I'm not listening to you, we're wasting our time. So...can we just try again?"

The two were at Amber's house, supposedly studying some of the new biology notes they had received. Their teacher had warned them that this quarter would be far from easy. The two had actually given up on studying about 20 minutes ago, and spent the rest of the time lounging around in her room in their typical silence.

"...I guess so. You're right. And I'm sorry," Shadow finally spoke from her lounge chair. Amber was laying down horizontally on her bed, her head hanging off the side.

"I would hate to lose a best friend..." Amber mumbled softly.

"Yeah. Me too."

Amber stood up from her bed and approached her guest, catching him off guard with a tight hug. He inhaled sharply, unused to the physical contact. Awkwardly, he wrapped his arms around her.

She released him and then smiled. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm kind of hungry. Would you like to stay for dinner again?"

"Depends. What are they cooking?"

"I think tonight we're all on our own. Mom seemed pretty tired when I got home, and dad still isn't home from work. What do you want?"

"...Would you like to eat out somewhere?" Shadow asked after some thought. "I'm kind of in the mood for pasta."

"That sounds great, I'll just go tell my parents we're heading out, and then we can go."

**X-X-X**

It was after dark when the two hedgehogs finally set out for home. After eating at the local Italian kitchen, they had decided to make a trip to the bookstore. They'd spent way longer than they'd intended to, thanks to a few great books they had found.

As Shadow described the book he had found for himself to her, Amber felt unease creep over her. She instinctively moved a little bit closer to the crimson-splashed hedgehog.

He immediately noticed the change in her. "What's wrong?"

"I...I don't know, I just feel uneasy..." she trailed off as she sense someone behind her. She quickly turned around, but no one was behind her.

Shadow chuckled. "There's no one here. I think you've been watching a few scary movies too many. Maybe we should try renting something other than horror every time we all get together for movie night. Come on, let's get you home."

No sooner had Shadow spoken than did a huge silhouette appear in front of them. The figured was tall and stocky with golden fur. Amber's breath caught in her throat.

"S-Spikes..."

"Yeah. It's me," came a gruff response. His voice was deeper than Amber remembered. "You'd better back off. She's mine," he addressed the darker hedgehog before taking off into the night.

"...Well. He's...charming," Shadow said after a bit. Amber shook her shock away.

"He's actually really nice...really. He's just...a little jealous I guess."

Shadow snorted in annoyance but let the subject drop, for the moment. "Whatever. Your parents probably expect you home soon. So let's go." The black hedgehog grabbed Amber's wrist and began to pull her along with him. She followed unconsciously, still trying to get past the face that Spikes had actually come looking for her. He hadn't forgotten about her. She felt relief flood through her system.

_I'm sorry that I ever doubted you._

**X-X-X**

After that night, Amber didn't see her werehog again for a long time. But the visit renewed her faith in him. She wished every night that she had some way to contact him, to let him know that she had not forgotten him either, but there was just no way.

Blazes' birthday was right after 1st semester finals, and the group of friends gathered at Rouge's house, trying to come up with some ideas for a party. They had wanted to do something similar for Amber's birthday as well, but her parents wanted just a "family" party, so they decided they'd do something great for her the next year.

"Well, how about we take a ski trip?" Amy suggested.

"I've never been skiing..." Amber admitted shyly. Everyone around the room gasped.

"Am, even I've been skiing! And I am not even from this country!" Skye proclaimed.

"Yeah really Amber, you've pretty far behind. What do you for vacation then, if you've never been skiing?" Knuckles elbowed her lightly.

"I actually spent a lot of time in more tropical places. I've never been a big fan of the cold..."

"But, it's so much fun! All that snow also means snowball fights, and if there's one thing I'm good at, it's snowball fights," Tails grinned mischievously. "Besides, it would be great fun, and we could all teach you how to ski."

"A ski trip sounds nice..." Blaze agreed.

"Does any one object to this idea?" Skye asked. No one spoke up at first.

"Well...I've never been either, and I really have no desire to go," Shadow mumbled from his corner of the room. "But...it's not my party. It's Blaze's. Whatever she wants to do, I'll tag along for it."

"I'm going to take that to mean that no one's in protest. It's decided then, we're going skiing!" Sonic grinned. "It's been a long time since I've been, but I remember how fun it was to move at those speeds. If there's one thing I love, it's high speeds."

"Yes Sonic, darling, we've seen you drive before," Rouge retorted softly, earning a few giggles from her peers.

"..." Sonic huffed indignantly.

"So now we just need to work out a date, how long we're going to stay, and what all we'll need," Amber volunteered.

"Oh, let me plan, please guys? I would love to put it all together! I can plan really well!" Amy was practically jumping where she sat next to Sonic.

Blaze chuckled. "Okay. You can plan it. Let's go on ahead and decide times right now though."

"I say we should stay for a week, and we should go December 7th. That way we'll be out there for Blaze's birthday, and be home in time for Christmas!" Amy said excitedly.

"All in favor?" Skye asked, looking around the room. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Then it's settled. We're going skiing for my birthday. Now, about what we should pack..." the girls all around the room pulled out their notebooks, ready to write down all the necessary information. The boys simply listened on, since all they were really going to pack was clothes for the week.

Amber leaned over to Shadow. "You don't want to go skiing because you don't want to make a fool of yourself learning to ski. Don't worry, I'll be there to be an idiot along with you."

"Hmph."

**X-X-X**

The 9 friends were able to get their semester tests done early so that they could leave for their vacation. They all met at the airport at 8 in the morning, eager for their trip to Holoska.

"I can't believe I'm actually going skiing!" Amber exclaimed anxiously. "This will be so much fun, I don't usually go on vacations without my parents."

"Well, this will definitely be a blast," Rouge grinned devilishly. "I will personally make sure you have the time of your life!"

Amber laughed nervously. "Hey, I'll be right back, I need to run to the bathroom."

As Amber searched for the rest rooms, her eyes caught a familiar face.

"Oh! Spikes! I can't believe it! I've missed you so much!"

The larger werehog pulled her into a tight hug, following it up with a kiss. "I've missed you too," he mumbled softly into her fur. "You have no idea."

"Three years is such a long time to wait..." she mumbled softly. "I hate it."

"Just remember. It will be worth it. Where's the ring I gave you?" he questioned as he caught sight of her bare hands.

"Oh, it's here, in my pocket." Amber reached inside the pocket of her white jeans and showed the ring to him. "I never let it out of my sight, seriously. It's so beautiful..."

"Well, nothing less than the best for my girl," Spikes smiled softly. "So...where are you guys going?"

"Oh, we're going to Holoska for a week. Blaze's birthday is on the 12th, so we're celebrating with a ski trip."

"Dang...I really wish I could go. You're so lucky to have all that money."

Amber smiled back apologetically. "Well, I promise you, we'll go after we get married. As many times as you want," she said with a kiss on his cheek. "I need to get going. It was amazing to see you again though. I'm glad I got to see you. You have no idea how much I've missed you."

"Don't worry baby girl," he mumbled, pulling her into a tight embrace. "Soon, we'll have all the time in the world to be together."

Amber smiled and said goodbye to him before rushing into thee bathroom, then rushed back to her friends just in time to board the plane.

**X-X-X**

The whole week sped by. The first day was mostly a "get settled" kind of day for the group. They had each gotten their own rooms, all down the same hall in the five-star Ice Palace Hotel. The next three days were spent watching Amber try (and fail repeatedly) to ski.

Amber was about as frustrated as she was sore. "This is ridiculous. You guys make it look so easy! Maybe I'll just sit with Shadow on the sidelines," she gestured to said hedgehog, who was in the same spot he'd been every time they'd come down the hill. He chuckled softly to himself.

"It's a better idea, you don't get so hurt this way."

Amber sighed. "I don't know. Maybe I should take a break."

Shadow left to go find some hot chocolate while Amber waited at the bottom of the hill for her friends. Finally, he returned, a steaming hot cocoa drink in each hand.

He passed one to Amber. "Here, drink this. You'll feel a lot better," he advised.

Amber took a careful sip of the deep brown liquid. It still managed to scald her tongue. She ignored the feeling and relished in the warmth it brought her. "Thanks, Shadow. Why won't you try to ski with us?"

Shadow chuckled darkly. "What's happened to you is a pretty good example of why I don't want to. It's a wonder you're willing to even move."

"Oh...it's not that bad. Please Shadow? At least try?" Amber shot him a "puppy dog" look, and Shadow felt himself lose his resolve.

"...oh, alright. Just stop making that face. You look dumb," he growled. Amber ignored his comment and jumped up with joy.

"Yay! Let's go Shadow!" Amber grabbed a hold of his wrist and dragged him over to the ski left.

At the top of the slope, both hedgehogs looked down nervously, although Shadow would never admit he was nervous.

"Well, here goes nothing," Amber said shakily.

"Alright. Let's get this over with." Shadow urged himself forward and over the edge of the slope. Amber sighed and reluctantly followed.

For once, she started off alright. She didn't feel like she was going to lose her balance at all. Amber relaxed slightly and focused on keeping up with Shadow, who actually wasn't doing bad for his first try at all. He managed to keep his balance and keep his skis pointed in the right direction.

Suddenly, Amber lurched forward as her ski caught a rock. She gasped and tried to warn Shadow about her fall, but landed face-first in the snow before she could utter a word. She continued to roll down the hill, suddenly colliding with something somewhat solid. She heard Shadow grunt in surprise as she smacked into him, knocking the two down and sliding them quite a ways down the slope. They landed side by side in the snow, their skis tangled together.

"Ouch..." Amber whined softly. Shadow sat up and rubbed his aching head.

"Well...shit," he cursed, taking note of their skis. "And now you know why I didn't want to ski."

Amber laughed nervously, the aggravation and anger apparent in his crimson eyes.

However, to her surprise, a sudden, goofy smile over took his features. He started off chuckling, but eventually fell back into the snow, laughing loudly. "Wow. Don't we make a great team?"

Amber grinned. "Of course we do! That's probably the only reason why you put up with me in the first place, is because you and I are so alike!"

Shadow rolled his eyes. "Typically opposites attract. There's a large flaw in your logic."

"Logic isn't my best suit. Come on, let's go back to the hotel. I think I've had all the fun I can stand today."

**X-X-X**

**Oh hey, looky who made an appearance! XD**

**Can't forget just what this FanFiction is about, now can I?**** That would be terrible.**

**For those of you guys who love Spikes, well, I just hope you don't hate me for later chapters…ehehehe….**

**I'll have the next chapter up either Friday or Saturday, whenever I can get online. Keep dropping those reviews :D I need them to LIIIIVVVEEE.**

**Okay. That was a lie. But reviews are nice :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Here, have another chapter that I originally didn't want to give you guys XD**

**Chapter 8**

Later that night, Amber felt suddenly stricken with a feeling of loneliness. She tossed and turned constantly, trying to get to sleep, but her lonely mood and her sores from the past few days were preventing her from entering sleep's domain. She finally sighed and sat up in her bed, defeated. There wasn't much she could do in her small hotel room, and she quickly found out there was nothing interesting on the television.

_What the heck am I supposed to do then?_ Amber asked herself. She sighed. "I guess I could just go wake up Shadow.." she mumbled. "I mean...I doubt he's going to be that mad...what's the worst he could do? Kick me out? At least I would have had some contact with someone else..."

Amber sighed and wrapped her pastel pink fluffy robe around her body, tying it closed loosely. She crept out of her room and walked to the one to her right. She tapped her knuckle lightly on the door and waited. She heard a groan and heavy, sleepy footsteps to the door. When it cracked open, all she could see was crimson eyes that seemed to glow in the darkness.

"What do you want Amber? It's 2:30 in the morning."

"I can't sleep..." she replied softly.

Her dark friend scoffed. "So you wake me up." He pulled the door open wider to allow her in. He was in only shorts, his quills sporting the bedhead look. Amber had to hold back a small giggle as he gestured her inside. "Well, might as well come here and tell me what's wrong."

Amber walked in and sat on the corner of the bed. "How do you know anything's wrong?"

A tired chuckle sounded beside her as he took his seat beside her. "Something's wrong. You usually sleep like a baby. And if it was just because you were hurting, you would have taken some painkillers and tried to sleep. So something's on your mind."

Amber sighed. "...Every time we talk about this, we get into a big fight...but...before we left the airport, I ran into him. And he basically renewed my faith in him, that he hasn't forgotten me, and...I just miss him. A lot. I hate being separated from him. And I know you don't wanna hear it because you think I'm making a mistake, but Shadow...you don't know him. You've never really met him."

Shadow sighed. "All I can say is that I'm sorry that you miss him. I'm sorry that you're feeling like this. But...I don't know what to say, really. I do think you're making a mistake. But I can't force you to change your mind. Maybe you're right. I maybe I just don't know him like you do." The two sat in silence for a while. Then, Shadow added quietly, "Maybe I don't want to know him _that_ well."

Amber's mouth dropped open as she caught the innuendo. "Shadow!" She smacked him playfully. "That's terrible!"

"Wait, so DO you know him on that level?" Shadow reeled back from her in fake disgust. "Ewww!"

Amber rolled her eyes. "You're so damn immature!"

"Hey, I made you feel better, didn't I? Isn't that what I'm here for?"

Amber smiled back at him. "Yeah. Thank you, Shadow." She reached over to give him a hug. He welcomed her into his arms and gave her a quick, reassuring squeeze.

"Well...there's one thing I do know. You're smart enough to make the right choice when it comes down to it. I believe in you."

Amber couldn't help but smile. "Thanks Shadow. That means a lot to me."

**X-X-X**

"I can't believe our trip is already over!" Amy whined. "I was having so much fun, especially once Amber got the hang of skiing. I wish we could stay here."

Amber glanced around the airport, searching for the boys, who had left to go get everyone some food. "Yeah, it was pretty fun."

Rouge sat across from her, Blaze on her left. Amy sat to Amber's left. "Well, I'm personally very glad we had this vacation. It was easily one of my best birthdays ever."

Rouge smiled at Blaze. "Only the best for our best friend!"

"Hey, we got the grub!" Sonic's voice made the girls all snap their heads up. Knuckles, Shadow, and Tails followed behind the blue blur with the rest of the food and drinks for everyone.

"Finally. I'm hungry," Amber smiled as Shadow handed her her meal. She'd simply asked for a hamburger with a small root beer. She took a huge bite out of it, savoring the juicy flavor. "When your parents always cook fancy cuisine, sometimes it's nice just to grab a hamburger."

"Amen to that," Rouge agreed, taking a bite out of her hot dog. "It's a welcome change, every once in a while."

"Attention, now boarding flight number A42," the announcement rang throughout the airport.

"That's our flight!" Tails commented, jumping up from his seat. "Come on, let's get home."

**X-X-X**

Amber sighed with great relief as she finally was able to fall onto her own bed for the first time in a week. She curled up into a ball and pulled her faux-fur blanket up around her form, relishing in the comfort of finally being back home. She looked around her room and felt like she was in a whole new place.

"Wow. I didn't realize I would get so homesick," she mumbled to herself.

Rolling over to the side, she noticed something sparkling on her bedside table. Once again, she began to doubt her "engagement" slightly. _ What if Shadow and my parents are right? What if I really am making a mistake..._

She reached for the ring and rolled it over in her hands, admiring the uniqueness and beauty of it. _It's so pretty...and it had to cost a fortune...would he really do that if he wasn't serious? If he really didn't love me? _Amber sighed as Shadow's most recent advice echoed through her mind.

_Will I really be able to make the right choice? What if I'm not that smart...?_

Amber sighed and buried her head into her pillow. _I should just try to get some sleep. And I should stop second guessing myself. I need to have more faith in Spikes._

**X-X-X**

Third quarter came and went without any sighting of Spikes. Amber found herself doubting him more and more once again. Shadow's advice was getting to her. He was nothing if he wasn't persistent in convincing the golden hedgehog that she was making a mistake. Sometimes, Amber brushed off his advice, and sometimes they had heated debates for long periods of time. But always, once Amber started thinking again, his advice began to ring in her ears. He genuinely seemed concerned for his best friend. Amber wished that she could get him to understand her side of the story.

Sometimes, the werehog would fade completely from her thoughts. She started going days without even thinking about him, or glancing at the engagement ring that now sat undisturbed in her jewelry box. In the times that she did think of him, usually Shadow was there to input his two cents. Amber found herself beginning to even believe the black hedgehog.

One night, while she was heading back from said hedgehog's house after another study session, she was surprised to find Spikes waiting around the front gates to her house.

"What are you doing here? Don't you know that if my parents see you, everything will be ruined?" Amber quickly shoved him off into a dark, quiet side street.

"Amber. I can't wait any longer. Come on. Let's go. I don't want to wait anymore."

"What? I…I can't just leave Spikes. We're 16. We're under the legal age to live on our own. If the police find us, we're doomed!"

"Just trust me Amber. You said you wanted to run away with me. Now I'm giving you that chance. Please. Let's go," he reached out to take her hand. Amber snatched it away.

"No…we can't. I don't…"

"You don't _what?_" Spikes growled dangerously. "You said you were ready to run away at any time. Well here I am! Let's go! We have the opportunity!"

"Spikes. I can't leave. I'm not sure that it's a good idea now…" Amber thought about all her friends she would have to desert once again.

"You _can _leave, and you _will_ leave." He gripped her tightly and started off at a run, dragging the poor smaller hedgehog with him.

"Let go of me!" Amber managed to swing her foot around and hit him right in the groin. He let out a gasp of pain and doubled over, releasing his iron grip on the female hedgehog. "I will go with you, just not right now! We can run away when it's legal. And only then."

She turned and took off for her house, not looking back even once. Once she was inside the iron gates, she allowed herself to catch her breath before entering her house as though nothing had happened.

Amber didn't tell anyone about her encounter, and didn't see Spikes again for a long time. She began to fear him, instead of missing him all the time. However, she still argued with Shadow and refused to admit that she might be wrong about his intentions. She insisted to herself that he was just anxious.

**X-X-X**

At the end of the 3rd quarter, the students began to show a noticeable increase in energy. 4th quarter was always a relief, the anticipation of summer building with each day, and at Seven Jewels High, that meant that there'd be an end-of-the-year dance to raise money for next year's activities. The formal dance was open to all grades, as long as they had a date.

Amber caught wind of the dance towards the middle of the 4th quarter and could hardly contain herself. She would love to go to a dance with all her friends.

Amber noticed something, however, as she and her group of friends relaxed at the local mall, their new favorite place to hang. Every guy in their group was currently taken.

Tails had taken a liking to Skye, and they had become a couple not too long after the ski trip.

Sonic and Amy had finally made it official, now that Amy had calmed down and matured a little. Amber was happy to see them together. Amy had wanted Sonic for so long. She was glad the little pink hedgehog had listened to her advice.

Knuckles and Rouge had an on-and-off relationship going that had been going on for the past 3 years. And right now, they were "on," if for no reason other than to get into the dance.

Amber had even heard rumors that Shadow had asked a girl to the dance already in one of his other classes. She had to admit, she was a little bit upset that her closest friend hadn't shared with her that he even was interested in someone. She almost felt like he had hid it from her.

_What, does he not trust me? Does he think I'd get jealous? Do I really give off that vibe?_ Amber studied her midnight companion carefully. _I don't understand why he wouldn't trust me with something like that._

She was hurt by that. And she didn't hide it very well. Shadow noticed the two drifting apart as summer approached. She didn't confide in him like she used to. He could tell she was hiding things, but she denied it any time he asked.

Shadow sighed inwardly to himself. Maybe the rest of their group enjoyed hanging around idly like this, but it just wasn't his thing. He didn't like to gossip. He would rather be someplace quiet with a good book.

His thoughts wandered to the upcoming dance. He'd already had so many requests from desperate groupies. The truth was…he was absolutely uninterested in the thought of something so time-wasting as a high school dance. He had actually made up a rumor that he already had a date, just to get the girls to leave him alone.

_What's the point of these things anyways? Pay out of your ass for an outfit you'll only wear once, go and either look like an idiot dancing or standing around the whole night, and then probably break up with your date the next week. They're such a waste of time._

Shadow had hoped that Amber and he could go do something slightly more interesting, like challenge her to another game of chess. It had been a long time since the two had played, and he felt he was getting a little rusty.

_Maybe we could even rent one of those dumb movies she likes,_ he thought to himself. Amber didn't strike him as the type to go to dances, and she had never even once brought the subject up that he was aware of, so he figured he and his best friend could spend the time doing something slightly more entertaining.

_Of course, if she's going to act like this, maybe I'll just spend the time sleeping._ He watched her as she fidgeted slightly next to him. She had been so quiet lately. She usually had something halfway interesting to say. But lately, it was like she didn't even know him.

It bothered the dark hedgehog to no end.

_Tomorrow, it'll be today, soon  
Don't wait until it's too late to move_

**X-X-X**

**So. I didn't originally want to give you guys this chapter. Not so soon, anyways. I thought the chapter was just the first talk between Shadow and Amber. But…I want to update again. So here's a big plot deal, after a few fillers. XD 2k+ words of plotty goodness :)**

**I guess this makes up for the shorter chapters I've been writing lately. How am I doing, still?**

**Reviews are helpful ;D Although to be honest, if you just wanna PM me I'm alright with that too! I just wanna know what you guys think. I know I have 3 loyal reviewers so far, and quite a few loyal readers, judging by the alert list. Thanks for sticking with me, guys!**

**5 more chapters ;D Can y'all wait? I can ;)**

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**One final thing. If any of you are on DeviantArt, my name is the same as here: SoulPieces. I update a lot about the progress of FanFictions and usually post about upcoming FanFictions there before I do on my profile here. It's worth it to watch out for my journals :) Thanks!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer, blah blah blah. No reviews to respond to this time :)**

**Chapter 9**

The formal was drawing closer, and with its approach, Amber's temper got shorter, and her mood darker. She almost made a point to avoid Shadow at this point. She was still upset that he hadn't mentioned his date to her. She would have thought he would tell her.

_I thought we could tell each other anything. I thought we were best friends._

She sighed softly to herself as Amy chattered on in her usual excited tone about her dress for the formal. Amber could describe the dress easily to anyone, from as often as Amy talked about it. But she tried her best to be excited for her friend. After all, she was going to the dance with her dream date, and she still wasn't entirely used to the fact that Sonic no longer ran away from her.

She could tell Shadow was getting tired of hearing about it as well. Amber started to ask him about his date, but then decided to leave it be. She figured that if he really wanted to tell her, he would have told her by now.

Much to Shadow and Amber's relief, they had finally reached the crossroads where Amy departed. With an excited wave, the pink hedgehog skipped off towards her house. Amber and Shadow walked the rest of the way in their now-usual silence.

It unnerved Amber, she had to admit. She hated that she was growing away from her best friend. Sighing once again, she stole a glance at the darker hedgehog.

He held his same blank stare, which infuriated her. It was like he didn't even notice what was happening to them! Didn't it bother him? Didn't he tell her so long ago that he would hate to lose a friend?

She had to hold back a growl. _Some best friend you turned out to be._

"Well. I guess I'll see you tomorrow Amber," his deep voice shook her from her self-loathing. She looked up at him.

"Yeah. See you."

Without so much as a second glance, the two parted ways. Amber barely made it out of sight before an all-too familiar figured appeared in front of her.

"Spikes! What…what do you want?" She asked nervously, backing away slowly.

"Who was that you were with? I see you all the time with him. Who is he," the werehog bared his teeth at her in obvious anger.

"That's Shadow, he's…my best friend," her voice caught, but not for the reason Spikes thought it had.

"Yeah. Right. Come on Amber. We're going," he grabbed the girl tightly, this time keeping her from kicking him at all. He began running through the streets, taking off through back ways that Amber had never seen before.

Finally, she did the only thing she had left to do. "Please! Anyone! Help me! I'm being kidnapped! HELP!"

Spikes growled at her. "Shut up! You said you wanted to run away with me and I'm not waiting any longer! It looks like you're about to forget about the promise you made to me anyways!" He tried to cover her mouth with one of his enormous fingers, but she struggled away from it.

"You let her go, you bastard," came a deep growl from in front of them. Spikes skid to a halt to see a black hedgehog with crimson highlights in his upwards-facing quills standing in his path, arms crossed loosely over his chest. "She doesn't want to go with you."

"Oh. Great. It's you. I've seen enough of you. Get out of my way! She's my fiancé, she promised to marry me, and we're going to get married _now._" He tried to bat the hedgehog out of his way with an enormous arm, but Shadow caught him easily.

"No. You're not. You won't hurt her," he growled dangerously, death shining in his blood red eyes. "Put her down. And leave. Or I'll chaos spear you into next year."

"Sh-shadow…" Amber gasped. "Help me, please…"

"What do you think I'm doing, Amber? Making friends with him?" He gave her a dark smile, but then dropped it as he addressed the werehog once again. "Alright werehog. Put her down. She's not yours. She's not anybody's. She's not a piece of property. No one owns her."

"You'd better shut up, you stupid little twig," Spikes spat back. "You talk big for someone so small…" he stretched his arm way out to place Amber on the roof of a nearby house. "But if it's a fight you want…" he cracked his knuckles slowly. "…it's a fight you'll get."

Shadow began to remove the gold cuffs he kept around his wrists and ankles. "You're in way over your head, Fluffy. This is your last chance to turn tail and run," he dropped the four golden rings off to the side of the alley way. "After that…there will be no mercy."

Amber looked down at the two, terrified. _Those rings…_

Her mind flashed back to one of their conversations while she was at his house, at the beginning of the year.

"_So, Shadow, I'm dying to know. What's with those gold rings you always where?"_

_He looked at his wrists. "These? They're power rings. I was born with the unique ability to use Chaos energy. But this power was more than I could ever handle, so my father, who's a scientist, came up with these to help retain and channel my power. Despite how cool it sounds to most people, it's actually a real burden," he examined the rings himself as he spoke. "It's hard to control without help."_

_Amber nodded. "So…you still can't control your power without the help of these rings? Even now?"_

_Shadow chuckled. "It's not that I can't control it, not like you're thinking. It's that I couldn't handle all the power it gave me. It was too much for me to take all at once, and it's hard to control the quantity at which it comes out. Now, I can handle it to some extent, and I've gotten better at controlling how much I use, but I prefer to keep these on. They keep me from losing control completely when someone really agitates me."_

"_Well. Chaos forbid you ever take them off!" Amber joked. "Especially with Sonic hanging around and always pissing you off."_

_Shadow shook his head. "Actually, I have fought with him without restraints. Multiple times. We may be friends, but sometimes you can't settle an argument just by talking. We have to fight it out."_

_Amber rolled her eyes. "Typical guys."_

As she watched him toss the fourth ring off to the side, Amber knew that he was dead serious about not giving Spikes any mercy.

_Oh no…this is my fault…Spikes…why do you have to be so full of pride?_

Spikes smirked at his opponent. "Please. I'm not afraid of a shrimp like you. Come on, I'll even let you get the first hit." He faked a yawn.

What happened next happened so fast, that at first Amber wasn't sure it was real.

"Chaos CONTROL!" Shadow appeared behind the werehog and pulled his hand back. "Chaos spear!" A long spear made of some kind of energy that Amber wasn't familiar with appeared in his hand and then went straight through Spike's shoulder. He howled in pain and spun around, only to have Shadow teleport behind him and land a few heavy punches and kicks to his back.

Once Spikes was on the ground, Shadow chaos-controlled himself back to where he was standing before, an almost demented smile painted on his face, and watched the werehog slowly get up.

"Now. Are you going to run, or are you stupid enough to fight to your death?" He crossed his arms back in front of his chest.

Spikes looked at him with wide eyes. "F-fucking devil! Get the hell away from me!" He used his extendable arms to take off over rooftops, not glancing back even once.

Amber was still sitting up on the roof, her shocked expression showing no signs of going away any time soon.

Shadow allowed himself to cool down a bit before chaos-controlling himself up beside her. "I think it's about time you get home," his voice still held a dangerous edge.

Amber didn't move at first. "So that's it…that's the power of Chaos…" she mumbled softly.

Shadow nodded. "Sonic can use it too. He usually chooses not to, and his power isn't as overwhelming as mine. Or, if it is, he has much better control over it than I do. When he does fight, he does so with his speed. I prefer the pure power. It's been a long time since I've had those rings off. I've forgotten how great it feels!" His expression darkened into a hungry smile. Amber shook her head.

"Let's…just…take me home, Shadow…" she whispered in a small voice, wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her face into his chest.

He stiffened slightly as she grabbed on to him, afraid he might hurt her if he let himself get too carried away, and he forced himself back under control. He jumped from the building with one arm wrapped around her torso, and grabbed his power rings before walking close beside her all the way to her house.

**X-X-X**

"I told you so!" Shadow growled at her. "I never wanted to say this, but I warned you! I told you this would happen, and now you can see for yourself." Amber bowed her head, her eyes traveling down to the wooden floor of her front porch. She had one shoulder pressed against one of the columns of the porch, and Shadow was pacing back and forth on the ground in front of the steps. "I told you this would happen. I told you he wasn't straightforward with his intentions! If he loved you, he wouldn't have tried to drag you off like this!"

Amber darted her head up, tears pouring from her forest green eyes. "This isn't the first time he's come for me, I've already figured that out! This is the second time he's come for me! The first time I managed to get away from him on my own!"

Shadow froze. "This is the _second_ time?" his voice was a low, dangerous growl. He stormed up the steps and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look up at him. "Why didn't you say anything?"

Amber closed her eyes as more tears poured down her face.

Shadow dropped his hand from her face. "Mother of all Chaos, Amber, do you not trust me or something? What do you think I would do, do the 'I Told You So' dance and make you fend for yourself? No! I could have told everyone else to keep a close eye on you! I would have walked you _all_ the way back to your house to make sure you were safe! I could have had him arrested within that week! Do you not trust me?" He went back to pacing on the ground before spinning around and pointing at her. "From now on, I want to know when you see him. I want to know everything. You have to tell me everything, like you used to do!"

Amber looked at him indignantly. "Well, it's not like you tell me everything anymore, either!" She spat back. "You apparently didn't even trust me enough to tell me you liked someone and didn't even bother telling me who it is you're taking to the formal!"

Shadow's expression softened slightly. "Is that honestly why you've been so distant? Is that why you stopped telling me everything? Why you stopped talking to me?" He chuckled faintly despite his mood when she didn't answer. "Amber…" he walked back up the steps and met her gaze, his voice dropping and losing its edge. "I made that rumor up so girls would stop asking me to that damn dance. I have no desire to go. I'm not a dance kind of person. I didn't think you would be either, so I thought we could do something we enjoyed doing that night instead."

She looked back with a slightly suspicious gaze. "Why would you just assume I don't like dances?"

"You pointed it out yourself on the ski trip; we're a lot alike. I guess I just assumed that you wouldn't like going to a dance."

Amber dropped her gaze and a slight blush colored her cheeks. "To be honest…I've never actually…been to a dance. I move around so much that I've never really had another 'love interest,' nor have I ever had a guy friend who could take me to one. So I wouldn't know if I liked them or not."

Shadow stayed silent for a while, thinking. Finally, he sighed to himself. _Ah, Chaos. I'm going to have to be a "good friend" here and do the right thing, aren't I?_ "I guess…if you really want to go to this thing, we could go together. But I'm _only_ doing this because I feel bad for not letting you know that I made up the whole rumor. And because you're my best friend," he added with a cough.

Amber's eyes lit up, she couldn't stop from showing her glee. "R-really? Thank you Shadow! Thank you so much! You have no idea what this means to me!" She tackled the crimson-splashed hedgehog in a hug.

"Yeah, yeah…I know. I'm wonderful. Now go get a freaking dress. I guess I need to go find a tux or something…" he mumbled.

Amber looked up at him with shining eyes. "You really are the best friend any girl could have, Shadow. I mean it."

He rolled his eyes and shoved her lightly. "Go get your damn dress! You have a week to find one, and don't girls usually take 3 months to decide on one?" he added with obvious exasperation.

Amber laughed and turned to head inside. She placed her hand on the doorknob, then turned back to a retreating Shadow.

"Oh…Shadow?"

"Hm?" he stopped and looked over his shoulder, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his black jeans.

"No more keeping things from each other. I promise."

A smile graced his lips for just a second. "Yeah. I promise too."

_You can't let all this get you down  
Or keep you livin' in the dark_

**X-X-X**

**Here ya go, 2.5k words of friendship-repairing goodness ;)**

**It's always a wonderful thing when friends can move past a fight. Speaking of fights, the one between Shadow and Spikes is very boring. *yawn* But I am awful at fights. So…yeah. Best I could do. It's sad that my own writing kinda bores me. Oh well. Shadow's not finished. Not yet.**

**Hehehe. Run little werehog.**

**Review, and if you haven't already, follow me on DA for information on story updates! Link is on my profile.**

**Next up: Rouge, Blaze, and Amber go prom dress shopping…and hopefully by then I'll have a picture drawn of what her dress looks like! (Or, when I publish the chapter, if someone else would like to draw it, that'd be greatly appreciated by moi)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

"Blaze, Rouge...I think this is the one. This is definitely the dress I want."

Amber twirled around a few times to show off her dress to her two fashion-know-it-all friends. The two girls grinned and nodded. "It's perfect, Amber," Blaze agreed.

"Darling, you are going to be the center of attention!" Rouge exclaimed. "I knew that would be great on you!"

Amber eyed herself in the mirror. She had to admit, the sky blue, sweet-heart neckline dress did look good on her. The neckline didn't show off too much, and had a small silver-beaded border across it. Three silver "vines" branched from her right side. The first one slanted up to reach the neckline on her left side. The second branch was at a less severe angle and reached around her waist. The third vine trailed halfway across the bottom of the bodice. A few beads scattered here and there gave Amber the overall appearance that she was sparkling.

The skirt was floor length and flowed out at the hips, accentuating her small waist. Several small groups of beads reminded Amber of stars. She smiled.

"Yes. This is it. I'm getting it."

Rouge and Blaze applauded her. The moment Amber had told them she was going, and with _Shadow_ no less, the two girls eagerly cleared their schedules so that the three could have a shopping day. Next, the three girls would look for Amber's jewelry, and finish the day looking for the perfect shoes.

The saleswoman returned to Amber with some pins. "Alright, let's get this sized just perfect, and you can be on your way."

Afterward, she changed back into her day clothes and handed the dress to the clerk carefully. "I need this to be done, like, as soon as possible," she told the woman. "And I can pay for any kind of rush labor or whatever. Money's not my problem here," she assured her.

She woman eyed the dress. "We don't have to make too many changes to the dress. Let's say an additional $75, and I can have it ready in two days."

Amber nodded. "That's perfect. That gives me 4 days still before the dance." She paid the saleswoman and thanked her for her help, then the three piled into Blaze's red Nissan 370Z that she'd gotten for her birthday. Speakers blaring, they headed across town towards the first of many jewelry stores they had to visit, since the dress shop didn't really have anything that caught Amber's attention.

"Okay, I just want something simple," Amber tried to tell Rouge as she began to pull out several bracelets, rings, earrings, and necklaces. They were at their fourth store, and each time Amber had changed her mind about the kind of jewelry she wanted. "Maybe some dangle earrings, a small necklace, and a decent sized bracelet."

Rouge nodded absently, still picking out jewelry. "I don't want a ring..." she mumbled softly.

"Alright, no rings," Rouge shoved them off to the side. "Small necklace..." she began shoving aside all flashy, reach-down-to-your-navel necklaces next. "Dangle earrings. No hoops?"

"Well, I was thinking the earrings could be small, not like these..." she held up a pair of diamond-shaped long earrings that reached her shoulders when she held them up to her ears. "More like...these!" She held up another pair. These were smaller, just one line of 4 or 5 small diamonds.

Rouge nodded and sorted through the necklaces. "Any preferences on bracelets? I believe your bracelet should be the flashy thing, since you don't want anything else too big."

"Alright, let's try it." Rouge shoved aside the thinner bracelets.

"Take your pick, and we'll decide together what would look best."

After about 2 hours, the three girls finally came to a decision on jewelry. The small earrings that Amber pulled out earlier were the first thing the girls agreed on. Next came the necklace. Amber had found a thin chain with a tear-drop shaped pendant that looked a lot like the beads that were on her dress.

The most debate had taken place over her bracelet. Amber still wanted a smaller bracelet, but Rouge insisted on one that took up most of her arm. Blaze insisted on a mid-sized bracelet that had ornate designs all over it and was covered in crystals that reflected light beautifully. In the end, Blaze won out.

As the two girls were leaving, something caught Amber's eyes. "Um, guys...what about a hair accessory?"

The two other girls stopped. "We don't even know what you're going to do with your hair yet, Amber. How could we pick out an accessory?"

"It doesn't have to be anything big," she replied, eying the accessories. "What about something like this?" She held up a studded headband. "It has the same kind of stone that everything else has in it, and it's nothing too big. I could wear it with my hair either up or down. And it's only $15."

Rouge took a good look at it, then back at Amber. "Hm...I think I know what we'll do with your hair. Fine, we'll get this, too," she handed the head band to the clerk.

**X-X-X**

"Quite frankly, I could go barefoot under the dress, and I don't think anyone would notice," Amber mumbled softly as Rouge brought her box after box of silver heels, flats, platforms, and boots. "I definitely don't want boots," she added, shoving away a box.

"Okay, no boots. And we had the girl take the dress up enough so that your shoes will be visible a little bit, which is why we're all going for mani-pedis tomorrow. Chaos, Amber, sometimes you act like a rebellious five year old, with your choice of clothing," Rouge handed her a box of Cleopatra-style heels as she spoke.

The other two girls laughed. "Ooh, Amber, those look good on you!" Blaze commented.

She walked a few times up and down the isle. "I kinda like them. They're my favorites so far. And they're simple."

"They're very elegant," Rouge added. "And the pointed toe shoes off your small feet. I personally think those are perfect."

Amber looked over towards Blaze. "Any objections?" She asked. The purple cat shook her head.

"Perfect, I'll run them up to the clerk!" Amber and Blaze stayed behind to clean up all the shoes that were scattered around them.

"You know, now I'm kind of ready for this dance to be over with!" Amber said with a laugh as they piled back into Blaze's car. "This is almost getting too stressful!"

Blaze rolled her eyes. "You think this is bad, you should have been with us when _we_ were shopping for our things."

Amber acted as though she would faint. "Those poor store clerks, how ever did they make it through that nightmare?"

Rouge laughed a little herself. "We had three or four different people wait on us, so I think that says quite a bit right there. I guess we're just too much for any one person to handle."

Amber placed an arm around both front seats where her two companions were sitting. "I can handle you both easily by myself, and quite frankly, I couldn't imagine not having you guys here with me!" She gave them a light hug. "You guys are actually a lot of help and know quite a bit about fashion. I don't know what I would do for this whole formal deal if it wasn't for you guys. I guess I'd be shopping with my parents..." she shuddered comically.

Both girls in the front seat were grinning. "We're glad to go along with you any time you need us," Blaze replied. "I'm glad that we can call you our friend."

Amber smiled and sat back in her seat, finally allowing herself to relax. It had been a busy day for her, and she was ready to get home and sleep.

**X-X-X**

_BZZZ! BZZZ! BZZZ!_

Amber glanced at the clock. It was eight o'clock in the morning. She groaned and turned over, pulling her pillow over her head.

"Amber! Come on, get up!" her mother called from the other side of her door. "Rouge, Amy, Blaze, and Skye will be here any minute! You five have a lot to get done today before the boys come pick you up."

"Oh, Chaos..." Amber groaned. The dance was _finally_ here, but she felt like she could sleep through the next three dances. "Alright mom..."

Slowly, she pulled herself out of bed. She vaguely recognized the sound of the doorbell, and crept softly into her closet, stripping herself of all her clothes, then pulled on her underthings and pulled her bathrobe on over them.

First, they would all treat themselves to an in-home spa day. They'd touch-up nails, treat their hair, take turns taking showers, and probably all talk about how they think the dance will go.

Next, they'd get started on makeup. Rouge would be doing every body's makeup, since she was best with it. Amber was a little reluctant to agree to let the bat do her makeup, but Blaze had assured her that she really did a good job with makeup. She just preferred hers caked on.

Their next step would be to do hair. Blaze and Skye had taken up that job. Meanwhile, Amber's mother would lay out everyone's dresses in different bedrooms so they would have plenty of space and privacy to get dressed when the time came. Dresses came last, because no one wanted to ruin them with makeup or hair products.

By the time all five girls were dressed and ready, it would be close to five, which was when the guys were supposed to arrive for pictures. Amber had already talked with Shadow, he wasn't too keen on pictures. But he agreed that he'd take a few, if her mom really wanted them to.

"Amber!" Said hedgehog was taken off guard by a blur of bright pink fur. "I can't believe it, we're all going to the dance together!"

Amber laughed and regained her balance and hugged Amy back. "I know. I'm excited." She looked around at all her friends. Like her, they were all wearing their bathrobes. Each girl had their dress in their hands.

They decided that, before anything, they would show off their dresses.

Amy had gotten a white halter-top dress with an open back. Gold beaded lining traced underneath her bust, and it was cut open at the sides. Like the rest of the girls' dresses, it was floor-length.

Rouge's dress was a slinky, elegant black dress with a white top and a huge bow on her left side. It was very classy. The neckline was straight, and the white top ended right underneath her bust. She pointed out the slit in the dress that reached all the way up to her thigh, which was met with several whistles and innuendos from the group of girls.

Blaze's dress was a bright red color, and also had a straight neckline. The top was rumpled up somewhat like Amber's was, and the skirt had several same-color flowers made out of a thin netting material all over it. The skirt flowed out quite a bit.

Skye's dress was a slinky, one-shoulder, white, gold, and light blue beaded dress. The colors alternated, with no definitive pattern to it. The three colors cascaded down the dress, making everyone think of a mermaid.

As everyone settled into their planned routine, Amber couldn't help but smile. She hadn't felt the joy of having such close friends in a long time. Her relationship with Spikes had killed any chances of that happening, and she resented him somewhat for every time he ruined her life by reappearing and forcing her parents to move her to a new school once again. She couldn't remember the last time she'd spent a whole year at one school, but somehow she'd done it now. She had to keep herself from crying out of happiness. She never wanted to leave her friends again.

And she wouldn't, she decided. If Spikes ever came back and apologized, she would grant him another chance, as long as he promised to wait until they were 18. When that time came, they'd stay right here in this town, so Amber could keep in touch with all her friends.

She glanced at the ring that was on her dresser with the rest of her jewelry for the night. He had made a promise to her, and she had made one to him, and she would keep it. But she'd keep it when she said she would keep it, and not ruin anything beforehand.

**X-X-X**

**I was gonna upload pictures of each dress, but they're like last year's models, based off of dresses I looked at for myself, all except for Amber's. I actually own Blaze's dress :) I'll be wearing it to my own prom this year :3**

**I drew a picture of Amber in her dress. Link is on my profile. It's not in color though, mainly because I'm lazy.**

**This chapter was supposed to be up yesterday, but I started early week yesterday. And well…it's wearing me out. (For those who don't know, it's a whole week and a half of band. Nothing but marching and learning our show for this year.) It's a killer, because of the heat. We've had such a bad drought lately that it makes the temperatures unbearable.**

**Honestly, it's a miracle that I got this chapter up today. I'm dying. DX**

**Updates might be more delayed, although I'm hoping to upload another chapter by this weekend. When school starts, my mom will be limiting computer use to the weekends. This might not affect this story, as there are few chapters left, but it WILL affect my others.**

**Anyways, hope you enjoy. It will be getting pretty heated soon ;)**

**Next up is prom, and of course crazy prom pictures that I actually would love to draw or see other people draw for me XD It'll give me something to do while I cool down from dying outside. XD**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

"YAY THEY'RE HERE!"

Amber's ears flattened to her head as Amy's voice woke her from her daze. She hadn't meant to, but she'd started drifting off, trying to make up for her loss of sleep on a Saturday.

She took a quick glance in the mirror to make sure she hadn't messed up her hair before joining the other girls in the parlor. They had decided to curl her hair, brush out some of the curls, and put it up in a high pony tail. The headband sat gently in her hair, pushed forward slightly so that her bangs were given a little bit of height, in order to prevent herself from looking flat-headed. It also kept her quills out of sight.

She felt her heart flutter gently as she took in the appearance of the guys.

Each boy was dressed in a tux, their ties matching accordingly to their date's dress. Tails reminded Amber of a ring-bearer at a wedding service. He was so small looking and seemed like he was just trying to fit in with the "older guys." She smiled softly when she saw him and his exotic date.

She glanced over at Amy and Sonic. Sonic had his arm tight around Amy, holding her close to him. Amy was doing her best to hide her excitement. Amber was so proud of her improvement.

Knuckles had greeted Rouge with a long kiss. The shirt underneath his tux was unbuttoned slightly, which bugged Amber slightly. It just looked...unfinished.

Blaze's date was a boy Amber had only seen once or twice around school. His name was Silver. Rumor was he was somewhat of a pothead, but regardless, he looked nice. The quills on his head reminded Amber of a pot leaf, and she had to hold back another giggle. But Blaze seemed absolutely taken with him.

Finally, Amber's eyes traveled up to her own date. Despite her heels, he was still much taller than her. His eyes were wide, but the moment they made eye contact, he forced himself into a more relaxed expression. She smiled and greeted him with a hug, deciding not to acknowledge the look he'd given her.

"Alright every body, out into the garden for pictures! Your dinner reservations are at 6:30, so we need to get these over with!" Amber's mom appeared with her camera. She took great pictures, and Amber was good with adding effects.

Amber decided that this was probably the only time she'd ever actually enjoyed having her picture taken. After the serious group photo and individual photos were taken, they began to take goofy pictures. Amy had suggested they try to take the famous "group jump photo." Amber's mother probably took 50 photos before they finally got it right, but Amber knew at least half of those would wind up being developed and shown off.

For individual "silly" photos, Amber and Shadow found two large sticks and had sword fights with them. Amber's personal favorite was a picture of her riding Shadow piggy-back with her "sword" outstretched towards Tails and Skye, who were in the same pose.

Her mom had snapped a particularly cute picture of Amy standing beside their cherry blossom tree with sonic hanging upside down right next to her. The two shared a kiss right after that picture, which was also caught on camera.

After her mom had filled up an entire memory card with pictures, she let the group go. "Be careful, everyone!" she called behind them as they piled into the white stretch Hummer. They had ginger ale and cider stored in the refrigerator, which they passed around in wine glasses and then proceeded to act like they were all drunk.

Sonic slid a mix CD into the player and cranked it up at full volume. They rolled down the windows and howled every song with glee.

Once they reached their destination for dinner, Shadow noticed a large ring on Amber's hand, and he couldn't believe he'd missed it earlier.

It was the ring that Spikes had given her.

His blood boiled. He could hardly find his appetite afterward, and he wasn't able to enjoy himself like he had been earlier.

When they reached the Convention Center where the dance was being held, Amber noticed that he was acting much different than earlier. He acted aloof and almost like he was mad at her. She sighed to herself and shook her head. _Well, he had said that he didn't like dances. Maybe it's just getting to him_.

Amber tried to keep herself from bothering him too much. But she so badly wanted to dance. The pounding beat of the song, "Scream" by Usher drew her in, and eventually she left his side to go dance with her girlfriends. She followed their lead and prior advice and let herself relax, letting her body sway and move to the beat and feel of the song. She swung her hips in what she hoped was a seductive way, and suddenly another guy was dancing beside her.

She felt her cheeks grow hot, and she slowly moved away from him. She turned to Blaze, who was laughing.

"What was with that?!" She yelled over the pounding music.

"Well, obviously he liked the way you were shaking what you've got, and since your date isn't anywhere around to take part in it, he figured he'd try to get lucky."

Amber laughed along with the purple cat. "Well, he's not getting lucky any time soon, and speaking of dates, I think I should return to mine. He's bound to feel awkward..."

Blaze simply nodded and went back to dancing with the rest of the crowd. Amber found Shadow back where she'd left him.

"Tired already?" He asked her with slight irritation.

"Someone tried 'dancing' with me, and I decided it was too weird, so I left the floor," she replied. He simply grunted and nodded, which drove the lighter hedgehog crazy. Earlier he was being sweet and...almost a different person than what she was used to. He'd actually made an effort to have fun for her..._with_ her. And it had brought butterflies to her stomach. She felt a slight echo of that lightheaded feeling just being with him, but she wanted to feel whatever she was feeling earlier.

But with him acting the way he was now, she didn't think she'd ever get that side of him again.

After a bit longer silence, she got fed up. "Alright, Shadow, what's your problem. Earlier you were having fun. I watched you _laugh_ like I've never seen you do before. But ever since we got to dinner, you've gone back to being quiet and sullen! Is it really _that_ awful to have to go to a dance with me? If it's so awful, why did you even agree to go?" she challenged.

Suddenly Shadow grabbed her wrist and pulled her outside, where the two could talk and actually hear each other.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "The ring. Why are you wearing it?" His tone reminded her of that day after school when he confronted Spikes.

"I...I don't know," she admitted softly. "I just...felt like it, I guess..."

He growled again, and this time a new emotion was heard in his voice. "Take it off."

_Was that...jealousy?_

"Take it off. You know what he's like and you STILL want to wait for him? What's wrong with you? Why can't you let go of him and just move on to someone else!" His crimson eyes flashed with anger.

"If I didn't know any better, Shadow the Hedgehog, I'd almost think you were jealous!" she growled back, getting right up in his face.

He growled and grabbed a hold of her tightly, causing her to gasp right before his lips pressed fiercely into hers.

Time stopped for the blonde hedgehog, and she felt the butterflies from earlier not only in her stomach, but her whole body. She felt something she didn't recognize or understand streak through her body.

He pulled away slowly, shock in his eyes as well as hers. "Sh-Shadow...?"

"I am jealous," he breathed. "I...I am."

Her hand shook as she rested it on the crook of his elbow, his hands still clinging tightly to her shoulders. "Jealous..." she repeatedly dully.

"I'm jealous of how you won't let him go. I'm jealous that he's always on your mind. I'm jealous that...he can do all these things to you, and you still stick to him, while I open up my heart to you, meaning only to do so as a friend, but suddenly, falling for you like this...and he still has your full attention…" he trailed off, realizing his words were beginning to become scrambled. "I...Amber...I like you. I really do. I didn't think I would be ready for any kind of relationship like this any time soon but...watching what you felt for Spikes, no matter what happened...it made me realize that maybe, I'm as strong as you are, to go through so much pain and still want to chase that feeling..."

Shadow's hands slowly began to fall from her shoulders, and he slumped forward. "You...showed me that I can't just give up and close off completely like that. That...I shouldn't push away a chance to get close to someone, closer than just a friend, just because one bad thing happened...and when I realized that, I also realized that I wanted that person to be you...You were the one that showed me this. You're the one that's always been there. Who's helped me find this..."

He sighed deeply, and Amber slowly stepped a little closer to him. "I...I'm glad I could help..." she murmured softly to him.

"It pisses me off at the same time," he went on, anger starting to return to his voice. "That you continuously put yourself through hurt like this, for this scumbag. But...that's what you're supposed to do, isn't it? Keep pushing forward. Keep hope that it will all turn out just right, just like it's supposed to, in the end."

A soft hand was lifted to his cheek, caressing him softly. "Shadow..." she whispered. He looked up at her with caring eyes.

"What I feel for Spikes...what I thought I felt..."

Shadow nodded slowly when she trailed off.

"It's nothing compared to what you make me feel," she finally whispered.

Without a word, or change in expression, he took one of her hands in his, and wrapped his other arm around her waist. He kissed her much softer this time, taking the time to notice how it felt to have her lips against his, her body pressed into his.

All too soon for either of him, he pulled away. "Do you want to go back to the dance...?" he asked her softly.

"Maybe after a while...how about we go for a walk?" She held her hand out for him to take, and the two decided to walk the path that wound around the large property.

They assumed their usual silence, but once again it bothered neither hedgehog. They were content enough to be in each others' company, to know that their feelings were back on the same level, and that they were back to a mutual understanding.

Suddenly, five large figures blocked their path. Immediately Amber recognized the shape she's come to fear. "N-no..." she shrank behind Shadow, ears flat to her head. "Not now…"

"Hello, love," spat one of the larger werehogs. "You're looking very beautiful tonight, what a perfect outfit for the occasion. I can see you're wearing my ring, as well..."

"Haven't I taught you a lesson yet, Spikes?" Shadow growled at him.

"Oh yeah, you taught me a lesson," he growled mockingly. "You taught me to bring friends along next time. Hand over the girl," he demanded.

"Over my dead body," he spat back. "Amber. Get back." She slowly began to back away from him.

Suddenly, four werehogs pounced on Shadow all at once. He tried desperately to remove his power rings, but one of them always had a hold of one of his arms, keeping him from unleashing his power. He was resorted to hand-to-hand combat. With a feral growl, he began to throw punches and kicks, aiming for any weak spot he could reach.

While he fought off the werehogs, Amber turned to run for help...and ran straight into a solid, furry chest. "Running back to me, I see," she heard the haunting voice growl. "I'll teach you to deny me what's mine."

"Sha-" her scream was cut short by a heavy blow to the back of her head, knocking her out immediately. While the dark hedgehog was still distracted, Spikes made off with his prize.

_How many times do you need second chances?  
Not every body gets another second chance_

**X-X-X**

**Sorry about the wait everyone. I hope this is kinda worth it. There are two more chapters after this one!**

**I've had a lot going on in my life. So I'm really not on the computer a lot. (Check my DeviantArt for slightly more details about it all.) But I will try to have the next chapter up Wednesday. Promise.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

As soon as he realized that Amber and Spikes were no longer any where around, Shadow shook off the other werehogs by running at full speed back all the way to Amber's house, desperately hoping that by some chance she had made it back.

Her frantic parents immediately called the police after hearing Shadow's story. Almost instantly, half the town's force was out on the search for the missing girl. The search went on for two weeks, absolutely fruitless. No one had seen a werehog around the neighborhood any time that they could remember. After five days, the police wanted to give up. Shadow kept their interest with bribes and, when that didn't work, intimidation. Everyone knew the ability that the Robotnik hedgehog had, and no one wanted to be on the receiving end of it.

He constantly searched Amber's room and through every notebook, looking for anything that said where they were planning on running away to, or even where the werehog lived. He tore through her locker at school, looking for anything that might give him any clues. He searched _desperately_ for her, knowing that she wouldn't want him to give up.

She didn't want to go with him. Not this time. No part of her wanted to run off with him anymore.

That's what he wanted to believe.

**X-X-X**

After a week and a half, even their friends had given up on ever seeing their golden-colored friend again. They held a memorial service on the last day of school dedicated to her. They opened up the podium to anyone who wanted to say anything.

Shadow went last.

"Amber was—_is _a strong girl. I refuse to admit she's gone for good. Not until I have proof set in my hands. I won't give up...I can't. I've already lost my sister who I was very close to. I can't lose Amber too...she helped me to get over those wounds. She's been there for me since the day we met. Sometimes I didn't want her to be there but…she never gave up on helping me. Who's going to help me now?!" he pounded on the podium, rage boiling inside him. He took some deep breaths to calm himself back down a little. "She never gave up on me…I can't give up on her…Everyone else has given up, just like they gave up on me, but she never gave up. I have to return the favor. I will not give up until someone gives me proof that she's gone. She's not gone. Not for good. There's something we've overlooked, somewhere. There's got to be something, anything that can lead us to that damn werehog. I know there's got to be. And I won't give up searching for her until I find either it, or proof that she's never coming back."

He turned to the picture they'd blown up for the banner. "She has too much to live for. Too many people still need her. ...I still need her. I won't lose someone so close to me...not again."

He walked off the stage in silence, and immediately left the auditorium. The door slammed behind him, leaving the entire audience in a deathly silence. Finally, the principal approached the podium.

"…It's not wrong for him to have hope," she began after clearing her throat. "But…sometimes…we must accept the truth. Amber Scott has been missing for over a week. No one's turned up anything…as we are all well aware…"

She glanced down at the podium, the auditorium once again silent. "I think that now…we must focus on remembering the impact she had on everyone who spoke today…and we must comfort those who need it most…like this young man. It must truly be hard to lose someone so close to you just shortly after you decide to trust someone again…" She shook her head and glanced back at the picture behind her.

"Please remember those who need comfort the most. You are all dismissed." With a wave of her hand, everyone was given permission to leave. The only sound in the auditorium was the scuffing of feet on the tile floors.

**X-X-X**

Two and a half weeks after her disappearance, Shadow found himself sitting in the chair in her room, like he used to every day after school. Her parents were used to him constantly visiting their house by now. Sometimes he came with her friends. Other times, like today, he was alone.

He looked around her room. He had to be missing something. She had to have something written down somewhere that had some information on him. He'd dug through every book she owned, page by page. He'd looked behind all the furniture. He'd dug through her nightstand. He'd gone through everything. Her parents helped him search the whole house.

He growled and curled his hand into a fist. _When I get my hands on that damn werehog..._

He sighed in tossed his head back, staring at the ceiling.

"Why?" he asked no one in particular. "Why is it that I'm not allowed to be happy?" A growl rose in his throat. "Is there something wrong with me ever being happy?!"

His hand traveled down to the pockets of his jeans, where his wallet was. He opened it up and pulled out a picture.

It was his personal favorite from that dance. Her mom had taken many pictures of the kids when they were just standing around talking as well as posed pictures.

Shadow couldn't explain why this photo was his favorite. The two were standing a ways off from everyone else, Amber was looking up at him with bright, shining eyes. He was looking down off to the side, but even he could see the red color on his cheeks. He couldn't remember what she'd said that provoked that reaction from him. Or why the look she had been giving him still made his heart skip a beat even just by looking at the picture.

There were other really great pictures as well…but this one was just his favorite. And he wasn't the type to carry tons of pictures around in his wallet.

He sighed and glanced around the room. _Amber…why wouldn't you listen to me? I told you he was bad news…why didn't you listen to any of us?_

Dozens of picture frames on her dresser caught his eye. They weren't there the last time. He stood up and eyed each picture, picking it up carefully before moving on to the next.

There were sixteen pictures all lined up. Each one was of Amber, each one showing her at every age. He'd never seen her at a younger age. In the first picture, her eyes were shut tightly, and she was wrapped in a lavender blanket, trying to turn her head away from the camera. Her nose was wrinkled tightly as though the camera was causing her discomfort. Her mother was holding her, still in her hospital gown, with a tired smile on her face.

In the next one, she was wearing a cotton white dress, sitting in the lap of an oversized teddy bear. Her slightly chubby arms were wrapped tightly around the arm of the bear, a wide, toothless grin spread across her face. Her short quills stuck up all over her head from underneath her thin, short hair. The picture almost made him chuckle aloud. Amber would die if she knew he'd seen that.

Age two, she was standing in front of the TV, watching some dance show, and seemed to be trying to dance along with it. Her hair had grown way out, and her quills seemed to lay down a bit easier now. Of course, it was hard to tell, since she was jumping in the picture. Her smile actually contained teeth.

In the fourth picture, she was on a red tricycle, little pink streamers attached to the handle bars. She had a doll in the front basket that looked similar to her. One hand was on the bike, the other on the doll's head. She was sticking her tongue out at the camera. Shadow shook his head and glanced a little further down the line of pictures.

Age 10, she was mid-pillow fight with a brown cat he didn't recognize. The cat had a half blue, half green eye. The colors were parted diagonally through the middle, which he found very strange. Both girls had laughter across their faces. Amber was just about to deliver a hard whack with her pink pillow. Written across the bottom of the frame was, "Happy 10th! You're my best friend! –Callie."

He had heard about the girl before. Even though they were separated by several states now, Amber still kept in close contact with her friend. Apparently they had grown up together and were always joined at the hip.

A little further down the line, he noticed that she had braces at age twelve. It was just a school picture. Her hair was cut in a bob, her quills pinned back with bobby pins. Her smile was shy, like she was trying to hide her braces. Shadow shook his head. She had come a long way from the slightly chunky girl in the picture.

Finally, he glanced at the last picture. It was yet another prom picture. The whole group had taken one together, but each couple had their arms around their date. All except, of course, for Shadow and Amber. Shadow head rested on her shoulder, giving her fake puppy eyes. He remembered even now how loudly she had laughed. It was definitely…not him. He had to admit, he really looked ridiculous…

He sat the photo down, and his eyes traveled down her wall to her air vent. The AC was on at the moment, and he saw a slip of paper pressed against the vent. He slid his wallet back into his pocket and walked over to the air vent. With trembling hands, he managed to pull out the paper, and found writing on it.

He felt a huge wave of relief rush over him. Clearly written in her handwriting...

_Spike's Address_

_8723 Porter Avenue_

A grin crept across his face. _I knew it._

**X-X-X**

"What, are you fucking retarded?! Just make the damn food!" Spikes growled from his recliner in front of the television.

"I told you, you're out of half of what I need!" She insisted from the kitchen. In the almost three weeks he'd held her captive in his house, she'd come to realize why he didn't have any money. All he did was sit in front of the tv with some form of alcohol. He'd bought her the skimpiest of outfits that she was absolutely embarrassed to wear. He gave her no choice though. Any time she needed money to go buy food, she had to ask him. And he made her work for her money.

And usually, that "work" included doing something in bed.

She shuddered as she realized that probably the only reason why he'd requested that she'd make Salisbury steak with macaroni was because he knew he didn't have the steak or any milk, which meant she'd have to ask for money.

"Then I guess you'll need money, won't you, baby doll?" he appeared in the doorway with an evil grin. She tried to run from him, but he easily caught her and dragged her back to him.

"Tsk, tsk, won't you ever learn that you can't run from me, babe?" his mouth was dangerously close to her ear. "I may have to make you work extra hard for that..." he dragged her over to the couch and pushed her down, climbing on top of her.

"No...please...get off of me..." she begged hoarsely. She knew begging him wouldn't stop anything, but she never gave up trying. She tried desperately to push his large arms away from her hips; his nails were digging into her skin. Suddenly, the front door burst open. Spikes' head shot up with an angered expression.

"GET OFF HER. NOW."

Amber's ears twitched at the familiar voice. "Sh...Shadow..."

"Ugh. It's you again. What do you want, twig," spat the werehog above her. She squirmed slightly, trying to get out from underneath him. He looked down and growled at her. "What have I told you about struggling?!" He raised an oversized paw, ready to strike her.

"I SAID GET OFF!" A blur of black and red launched into the imposing figure above her, and Amber felt the weight lifted from her almost instantly. She inhaled deeply as a little bit of blood began to stain her top.

The two males crashed into the coffee table. They immediately engaged in hand to hand combat, barreling one over the other until Shadow found himself pinned on the ground.

"Heh. Not so tough when you're wearing your jewelry, are you?" Spikes growled menacingly.

Shadow smirked in reply. "Oh, those? I took those off a while ago. I'm just going easy on you." He nodded towards the doorway, where the four golden rings lay.

Amber followed their gaze and made a dash for them before Spikes could do so himself, holding on to them for Shadow as he used his Chaos energy to keep Spikes occupied.

He immediately chaos controlled out from underneath the werehog and appeared behind him, delivering some heavy punches and blows before teleporting away from oncoming claws.

This repeated several times until finally Spikes got a lucky shot in, sending Shadow crashing into the wall. He reappeared from the hole with several chaos spears in hand. With a feral glint in his eyes, he chased the yellow werehog, throwing spear after spear at him, until finally both males stopped cold when they heard sirens.

"Spikes the Werehog, you are under arrest! Come out with your hands where we can see them! If you refuse to do so, Shadow the Hedgehog has every right to slit your throat where you stand!" A voice booming from a loudspeaker froze all three hedgehogs into place.

Shadow grinned at the Werehog. "Well. You heard him. Either go out there and go to jail, or die where you stand." A final chaos spear materialized in his hand, the tip resting right at the werehog's throat. He slowly backed towards the door, where Amber had been standing the whole time. She quickly dashed away, just in case Spikes decided to use her as a shield. Shadow followed him the whole way, never once taking the spear away from his throat until he was in handcuffs made specially to restrain werehogs. Then, he turned back to the house, where Amber stood shakily watching him, still holding on to his power rings. Blood slightly stained her shirt from where Spikes' claws had dug into her skin, but she hardly acknowledged it.

Shadow rushed forward and stopped just in front of her. He searched her eyes for the familiar light he'd grown so used to. She looked up at him with dull green eyes and handed him his rings. As he slid them on, he never lost eye contact with her.

Finally, he reached forward and stroked her cheek lightly. "Amber..."

She broke down and started crying at that moment. He leaned forward and caught her, pulling her into his arms. "It's over. I've got you. You're safe now. I promise." The sound of a paramedic siren could be heard in the distance, approaching them quickly. "You're going to go to the hospital and we're going to help you through any trauma you've experienced. Everyone's going to be so glad to see you again..." he mumbled into her hair. "I'm so glad to see you again..."

"I need you, Shadow..." she mumbled softly.

"Believe me, I need you too, Amber..."

_There's no more secrets  
(No regrets)  
Or living in the dark_

**X-X-X**

**Just one more chapter after this one guys. I hope this one was worth the wait. I'm sorry I'm not too good at writing fight scenes. It feels very anticlimactic…but I can't think of anything more to add….**

**Eh. Anyways, drop a review! Final chapter will be up this weekend!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

It took Amber months to even be allowed to leave the hospital. She had suffered severe trauma from repeated beatings and rape, courtesy of Spikes. The Werehog was sentenced to jail for 30 years, which for everyone seemed way too light. Amber refused company unless it was her parents or Shadow. She told everyone that she would see them when she got back to school; she didn't want them to see her in the state she was in.

The only other person she ever allowed to visit her was Skye, just before she returned to her country. Skye and Tails were going to try their best to get along with a long distance relationship, but the two were already growing apart, so neither were too upset that she had to go back. Amber, however, was extremely sad to see her new friend leave.

"Here is my address. We could be pen pals?" The dark blue bunny handed her a slip of paper.

Lips pulled tight to keep from crying, Amber managed a nod.

"My friend, I am so sorry for what happened to you," she whispered softly, pulling the other girl into a hug. "I promise you, you will be able to move past it one day...you have many friends to help you through it."

Amber nodded once again, tears escaping her eyes.

"I'll miss you, Skye," she whispered softly.

The two became pen pals and wrote one letter a week, and the next summer Skye had already made plans to come see everyone.

Amber spent half of her summer in that hospital, most of that time spent in total silence with Shadow. Although this silence was far from comfortable, the two were just happy to be with each other once more. Often times, Shadow brought her a book to read to her while she sat silently watching him.

For a long time since she came to the hospital, she refused to talk. Shadow had decided to give her time to find her voice again.

He had spent most days just like today, a chair pulled beside her bed, his chin resting on the mattress, one hand held tightly to hers. She held his gaze, her eyes shining with pain and distant fear, but he noticed that this day, she seemed a little bit better. He had tried to talk to her when he first came in, telling her that she looked much better, but she still said nothing in response.

Today, though, he had a physical he had to have if he wanted to run track the next year. He sighed softly as he realized that this would be the first day in a long time that he actually would have to leave her while she was still awake, her eyes watching his every movement as he left her. He always felt like a jerk when it happened. He felt like she was begging him to stay, even though she never said a word.

As he stood up to leave, a faint voice caught his attention. He spun around, shock evident on his face.

"Shadow…" the voice came to his ears again, this time a little bit stronger. Amber barely moved her mouth as she talked. "…Thank you…so much…I wish you didn't have to leave."

He darted back to her side. "Amber, it's so good to hear your voice again." He stroked her cheek softly. "I'll be back later, I just have to leave for a physical."

She nodded in understanding and watched him leave. Since that day, she began to talk a little more, a little stronger.

He never asked her what exactly happened in the almost three weeks she was missing, and he never asked what happened to the ring either. But he never saw it on her finger again. And quite frankly, he was glad.

Once she was allowed to go home, she spent a lot of time with her family, who never bothered to punish her once again for disobeying.

However, they did want her to move.

"Amber, you know what kind of reputation comes with the knowledge that you once dated a werehog..."

"I'M NOT LEAVING AND YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!" she screamed at the top of her longs before punching the wall harshly. "No. I will not leave again. I'm not starting over. My friends don't think any less of me! They understand! Shadow understands! Even their parents understand! Why can't you guys understand?!" It was possibly the most she'd spoken all summer to her parents.

Her mother sat with pursed lips. "Amber. We just want you to grow up with a respectable reputation..."

"Then let me grow up here! What did people do when they found out that my werehog ex-boyfriend kidnapped me? Did they sit around and gossip about how I deserved it for stooping so low? Or did they all get together on the last day of school and talk about their memories of me, how I had touched their lives?!" She began to see red. "You guys are so busy dwelling on past mistakes, you're the only ones that do that! Everybody else focuses on the person they know NOW, not what's been in my past!

"Shadow was the first person who ever knew about Spikes. I told him on the first day of school. He told me the same thing you guys told me, that I was wrong, that I was making a mistake. But he never left my side. He never thought less of me. In fact, my desire for what I thought was right actually helped him to get over the death of his sister that's been plaguing him for a long time! And now...now he's my boyfriend. He's part of a 'respectable' part of society. He's _our _class. Doesn't that mean anything to you? Doesn't that show you anything? Like maybe, you've been WRONG?!" She stormed out of the kitchen, slamming the door closed behind her.

Her mother turned to her father, who had been silent the whole time. "What do you think?"

"She has a point," he said. "I haven't heard anything negative about her from anyone. People have asked me how she's been doing ever since they found her. No one's thought less of her. And that boyfriend of hers has stuck to her like glue. I don't think this is affecting any part of her reputation. In fact, if anything, I think it's made her better known."

"Notorious, more like," her mother replied stiffly. "Now everyone in this town knows she's stooped so low to that piece of trash...and on top of that, they also know she's spoiled goods! I wouldn't be surprised if Shadow leaves her soon because she's no longer 'pure'."

Her father shook his head. "She's not notorious. She's become almost an icon. Everyone knows the little girl who finally made the right decision, and how she helped Shadow move on past a tragic event in his life. She's touched a lot of lives. And it's not like she willingly gave herself to that scum. She's still in therapy trying to get over that trauma!"

"But...what if someone decides to twist the story and makes it sound like she wanted all of this to happen...?"

"Everyone knows the true story. Nothing will change. Honey, let her stay here. This is the happiest I've seen her in a long time, and honestly I'm tired of moving around. I like this house. I like this neighborhood. I enjoy talking with the people around here."

Her mother bowed her head. "I don't know. I'll have to think about it."

**X-X-X**

Summer eventually turned into fall, and with it came the new school year.

Amber Scott found herself looking up at the school's sign. "Seven Jewels High." She smiled fondly at the sign. A lot of memories had been made here, and with the people who attended.

She adjusted her new coach purse crossover bag before glancing around the campus. Today, she was wearing her new favorite shirt. It was sleeveless, and started at the top as a light green color, but got darker and darker as it reached the bottom. She was wearing a new pair of black jeans that Shadow had bought her shortly after she got out of the hospital. Mobians of all species and colors moved all around her. She slowly walked up the front steps of the high school. Like most other students, she had come early to meet new friends, and greet the old, before school started up. She scanned the crowd for her friends. They'd be here soon.

_There they are._ She smiled as she caught sight of her closest friends.

Blaze Redd, the purple cat. She had grown her hair out, and now instead of a pony tail on top of her head, it flowed down to her shoulders. She now stuck to wearing a lot of red and orange, instead of shades of purple. She'd dyed the end of her tail and the tips of her hair to look like flames. She was the unofficial "leader" of their little group.

Amy Rose, the hyper little pink hedgehog. She'd actually calmed down quite a bit over the year, and grown a bit more mature. Of course, she was still less mature than everybody else in the group. She'd finally hooked her forever-long crush, Sonic Hedgehog, and was determined to keep him. Amber's advice had helped her do the trick.

Amy, as well, had changed up her style a little bit. She now wore a lot of white or sky blue dresses. She still kept her hair cut in a bob, but her headband was gone, and instead a small butterfly hairclip held her unruly bangs in position.

Rouge Prada had not changed one bit. She still wore too-revealing clothes and tons of makeup, and still kept on top of the styles. She just added her own "Rouge" style to it.

Amber approached them with a big smile on her face. It had been a whole summer since she'd seen them. It was time to reconnect. She was ready to be back with her friends.

**X-X-X**

Shadow Robotnik leaned against a tree, his eyes closed as he waited for his friends to join him. Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails always found him; not the other way around. He was always in the same place anyways, so they never took long to find him.

They did, however, always take a long time getting to school.

He opened his eyes to scan the crowd for his friends, and as he did so, he caught sight of a petite, blonde hedgehog making her way towards Rouge, Blaze, and Amy. She walked with a certain confidence that he hadn't seen in a long time. It made him smile.

"Hey Shadz, long time no see!"

That voice definitely didn't make him smile.

"Yes, it has been quite a while, hasn't it?" he asked lowly as his friends finally reached him.

Sonic, the track star. Some said he cheated because he could honestly run faster than sound, if he wanted to. But he argued that it was a gift he was born with, and it was something he enjoyed doing, and he never broke he sound barrier anyways when running for competition, so he was allowed to compete.

Knuckles, the football knucklehead. Ever since he and Rouge had gotten back together, they hadn't split up again. It seemed like they were back together for good. It improved the Echidna's mood more than he admitted.

And finally, little Tails. He still looked about as nerdy as they came, but since Sonic still fondly referred to him as his "little brother," he still hung out with the group. He played Tennis, which was just about the most athletic thing about him. He'd had a long distance girlfriend for a while, but rumor had it that they'd broken up over the summer, and he now had his eyes on _another _rabbit, his new neighbor that was a year younger than him, Cream.

"Anyone else seein' who I'm seeing? Wow, what a hottie!" Shadow looked in the direction he was looking. His eyes were stuck to Amy.

"I see a real hottie, alright, damn those are some fine curves!" Commented Knuckles, eying his girl.

"Both of you get your eyes off my girl before I chaos blast you to the moon," Shadow joked like they had been referencing Amber the whole time. "Come on. Let's go say hi."

**X-X-X**

"Boy alert..." Amber mumbled under her breath to the group as the boys approached them. They acted as though the boys weren't even there.

"Hey baby," Sonic wrapped his arms around Amy tightly and gave her a soft peck on the cheek.

"Did you guys hear something?" Amy glanced around at the girls around her. The other three shook their heads.

"Nope, nothing!"

Sonic growled softly and began to tickle the poor little pink hedgehog, and she lost control, struggling to get out of her blue dream's arms. "Okay, Sonic, okay! I see you! Hi! Stop it!" She pushed his hands away from her.

"Rouge, baby, don't ignore me..." Knuckles begged as he tried constantly to get in the addressed bat's eyesight. But every time he got in front of her, she looked the other way. "Please..."

Rouge looked at the other girls, giving them an exasperated look, and then finally looked at Knuckles. A goofy grin finally crossed her face. "Hello, Knuckie." The two almost immediately started a heavy makeout session.

"Yuck," commented Amber, turning and sticking her tongue out comically.

Shadow ducked his head and whispered softly, "You're just jealous because I haven't kissed you yet."

She rolled her eyes and looked at him with a huge grin. "You know me just a little bit too well..." She stood on her tip toes and gave him a light kiss before turning to Blaze. "So what time is it?"

"It's about 8:15, so I think we should head on inside and find our lockers and schedules." The entire group agreed, and walked together into the building.

Shadow stopped Amber outside the doors. "How are you feeling?"

She met his gaze. "I'm feeling alright. I feel a little bit of deja vu, don't you?"

"Just a little," he smiled. "Are you ready for a new year?"

"Yes. I am." She smiled up at him. "Hopefully, this year we'll get to finish our dance. You still owe me one slow dance."

Shadow raised an eyebrow. "I guess I do, don't I? Hmm..." he swept the smaller hedgehog into his arms, pulling her close. "Would right now be too inappropriate for a dance?"

She blushed wildly. Ever since she and Shadow had gotten serious, he had began to show her this side that she didn't even thing was possible for the darker hedgehog. He was happier...sweeter. It surprised her. She didn't recognize the hedgehog that now swept her into his arms at random moments, and always seemed to know when to say the smoothest and most romantic things. She smiled up at him. "Were you always like this? Before Maria died?"

He thought for a moment. "I guess I would have been. I'm not sure," he answered truthfully, beginning to sway lightly to the beat of Amber's favorite song. "I just...get so happy when I'm with you. Every time I see you, I get a feeling that I know I haven't felt before. And the happiness you bring me...I feel complete again, for the first time in a long time. I love the feeling."

She smiled up at him, and he began to hum a song that was so familiar to Amber. She smiled up at him and began to sing it softly.

_Take time to realize  
That your warmth is  
Crashing down on in_

_Take time to realize  
That I am on your side  
Didn't I, Didn't I tell you..._

He leaned down to kiss her softly, interrupting her. She smiled up at him with her innocent smile, but her eyes still held pain and slight fear that he realized she may never be rid of.

"We both still have a lot of healing to do," he whispered. "But...for as long as you'll keep me around, I'll be here to help you through it all."

Amber nodded in agreement. "And I'll be here to help you through your own pain, when you need me."

He smiled and broke away from her, now just holding her hand. "Well, let's go. We've got quite a year ahead of us."

She laughed. "Yes. Yes we do."

**X-X-X**

**Well, that ending sucked. DX**

**I'm sorry. I'm not usually a happy-ending person. I like to usually leave readers with a bit of uncertainty, or even just end tragically. This seems like a really super cheesy ending. I apologize infinitely for that.**

**This is the final chapter of Amber's story. However, I have had a few requests for a sequel. I may take it into consideration….but it might be a while, seeing as though I've got a few other projects on hand. (Most of them unpublished as of yet)**

**Leave a review, did you like it? How bad was the ending? Any ideas/requests for sequels or one-shots? One-shots I can do in my free time at school, so those would be great to help me stay in the swing of writing. (What is this free time of which I speak?)**

**Thanks for sticking with it. To my 3 SUPER loyal reviewers who have I believe reviewed every chapter, your continued support is MUCH appreciated! Thanks guys!**

**You can check out my DA page for any art I've drawn related to this story. I might draw more, depending on how swamped I get at school. (Oh, lord…Junior year is supposedly the hardest year of high school.)**

**Until the next story, this is SoulPieces, signing out!**


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